An Historic Decision That SCOTUS Dare Not Duck

We will hear oral arguments on Thursday, February 8, on one of the most important cases ever brought before the Supreme Court of the United States as it rules on the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to exclude former President Trump from the state’s Republican primary ballot. 

 

I have read two of the amicus briefs on this case, including one joined by historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat among others and another joined by historians David Blight, Jill Lepore and Drew Gilpin Faust among others.  These briefs summarily and persuasively dismiss the objections which have been made to the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision. They make it clear that Section III of the 14^th Amendment was indeed written looking not only back to the Civil War but forward to other efforts that might be undertaken in the future to overthrow our democracy.  They also convincingly debunk the argument that Trump is not an “officer” of the United States and the other argument that what he was involved in was not an “insurrection.” 

 I AM  convinced that an honest review of what the writers of Article 14 intended will result in Trump’s being disqualified.

  This will admittedly be a hugely controversial decision; it will be said by some to be too political for the Court to decide and therefore should be decided by Congress. Yet, as Conservative Judge Brett Ludwig has argued in his amicus brief, this is clearly a Constitutional matter that should be decided by our Courts. 

The reality that this decision will be politically controversial should not lead the Court to "duck..to try to find a way out" or "kick the can down the road" Disqualifying Trump will be acting in accord with the intent of the authors of the 14th  Amendment to protect our nation from a leader who sought to overturn it. It will be a decision marked forever as a stand for integrity, for doing the right thing. It will also, incidentally, save the Republican Party from not only a grievous threat to our democracy but it will stop its being co-opted by an individual who does not stand for what the Republican Party has stood for at its best.