MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall applauded the decision of the Supreme Court last week to weigh in on a state’s efforts to disqualify Donald Trump from presidential primary ballots as the 2024 election draws closer.
In December, Colorado became the first state to bar Trump from the state’s primary ballot, with the Colorado Supreme Court finding that the former president and leading Republican presidential candidate had violated the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause for his incitement of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Dozens of states have since seen similar efforts to bar Trump from their own respective primary ballots.
The move was met with outrage from Alabama Republican leaders, as well as from Republicans nationwide, with Marshall – along with 26 other state attorney generals – having filed an appeal to SCOTUS to rule on the matter.
On Friday, the same day Marshall and other attorney generals filed their brief, SCOTUS agreed to hear Trump’s opposition to the decision.
“The Constitution, not the Colorado Supreme Court, decides who can run for President,” Marshall said in a statement.
“If allowed to stand, this partisan ruling will create chaos and degrade confidence in the integrity of our electoral process. I applaud the quick response by the Justices to review this decision immediately and stop Colorado’s attempt to disenfranchise millions of its citizens.”
Oral arguments for the case will first be heard by SCOTUS on Feb. 8, with Trump’s own reply brief due by 5 p.m. on Feb. 5.
The 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause was adopted in 1868 as a measure to prohibit former members of the Confederacy from holding public office, specifically by barring any person from running for public office that had “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States.
Whether Trump’s role in the Capitol attack amounts to the legal definition of insurrection has divided legal experts, though with SCOTUS agreeing to review the matter in an expedited fashion, that question may be answered within a matter of weeks.
The first contest in the 2024 presidential election is just days away, with the Iowa Caucus scheduled for Jan. 15. Colorado’s presidential primary contest won’t be held until March 5 on Super Tuesday, the day in which the largest number of states simultaneously hold their primary elections.
Trump is separately appealing to state court a ruling by Maine’s Democratic secretary of state that he is ineligible to appear on that state’s ballot over his role in the Capitol attack, the Associated Press reported.