'Horrendously ugly' fight on the horizon if SCOTUS punts Trump insurrection case: report

The U.S. Supreme Court could set up a "horrendously ugly" political battle if they punt on deciding whether Donald Trump should be disqualified from the Colorado ballot under the Constitution's insurrection clause.

Republican and independent Colorado voters challenged the former president's eligibility, and the state Supreme Court found his actions around Jan. 6, 2021, prohibited him from serving in public office, but legal scholars warned the nation could face a "catastrophic constitutional crisis" if the justices try to take the easy way out in their decision, reported CNN.

“If the court says only that states cannot enforce (the ban) against presidential candidates, that is not the same as saying that Trump is eligible to serve,” said Gerard Magliocca, law professor at Indiana University and one of the foremost experts on the insurrection ban. “The court would be taking no view on that question, and that means that if Trump wins, people will feel free to go to Congress on Jan. 6, 2025, and ask them to declare him ineligible.”

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Many expect chief justice John Roberts might prefer a near-unanimous ruling that would most likely sidestep whether Trump participated in an insurrection, but experts worry that wouldn't resolve the fundamental questions about his eligibility and “fan the flames of public conflict" with another eligibility challenge as electoral votes are counted next January.

“Any of those… rulings would not leave the issue open to Congress,” said Edward Foley, director of the election law program at The Ohio State University. “Depending on just how horrendously ugly the situation could get, the court might feel compelled to become involved."

“This is volatile stuff,” Magliocca added.