Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
Last month the US Supreme Court slowed down the process of bringing Trump to trial for insurrection by agreeing to hear an argument that he’s immune since he was president at the time. Yesterday it moved unusually quickly to keep him on the ballot in this year’s election. It ruled unanimously that states can’t disqualify him as an insurrectionist under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The argument that he could be disqualified was made last year by two conservative law professors who said the president qualified as an “officer of the United States” (the wording in Section 3) and that the section was “self-enforcing”. The Colorado Supreme Court bought that argument. To no one’s surprise, the higher court didn’t. But by a 5-4 conservative majority it also ruled that only Congress can enforce Section 3 – a move the court’s three liberal judges say gratuitously insulates Trump from future legal challenges. He’ll take a big step today towards tying up the Republican presidential nomination by winning most of the 865 delegates up for grabs in Super Tuesday primaries in 15 states.