The Supreme Court of the United States agreed on Friday night – early this Saturday in Spain – to examine whether former Republican President Donald Trump can be excluded from the Republican primaries for the November elections, after the states of Colorado and Maine will take an unprecedented step and veto it.
The largest judicial body in the United States – where conservative judges are in the majority and three of the justices were appointed by Trump himself – will have a crucial role in the presidential elections.
Less than ten days before the Iowa primaries begin, the Supreme Court reported that the hearing on a disqualification of Trump is scheduled for February 8.
Until the court rules, Trump's name may appear on Republican Party ballots.
“I hope to receive fair treatment,” Trump said Friday night during a rally in Iowa ahead of the primaries.
Last month, the Colorado Supreme Court and Maine Secretary of State banned Trump from appearing on Republican primary ballots in the western state due to his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 riot.
Assault on the Capitol
That day his supporters broke into the Capitol with the aim of preventing the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Donald Trump and his most fervent followers still call into question, without evidence, the results of the 2020 elections.
The court decision in Colorado is based on the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, section three of which prohibits any person from holding public office if they have participated in an “insurrection or rebellion” after having promised to defend Magna Carta.
The amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, was intended to prevent supporters of the slaveholding Confederacy from being elected to Congress or holding federal office.
Lawyers for Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Colorado ruling, which also affects a court case in Maine.
Trump's defense estimates that if the ban is maintained it will be “the first time in the history of the United States that the judiciary prevents voters from casting their vote for the main candidate of a major party in the presidential elections.” According to lawyers, only Congress has this prerogative.
Trump's lawyers also argue that section three of the 14th amendment does not apply to Trump as a former president, that January 6 was not an “insurrection” and that the magnate “has not participated in any way in an insurrection.”
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