Conservative SCOTUS justices could do GOP a 'favor' by axing Trump for them: expert

The Supreme Court is not likely to ban Donald Trump from state ballots under the 14th Amendment’s insurrectionist ban, but they could still manage to kill his campaign, legal experts say.

According to law professor and Supreme Court expert Steve Vladeck, who appears in a new Washington Post piece weighing all possibly outcomes, the ballot question might be rendered moot if the conservative judges determine he engaged in insurrection.

“The court won’t be keeping Trump off the ballot, but it won’t be endorsing his candidacy, either,” Vladeck predicts. “Having Republican appointees joining Democratic appointees in holding that Trump did engage in insurrection might go a long way toward persuading those who are capable of being persuaded to cast their vote for someone else.”

Columnist Aaron Blake notes the Supreme Court has several options that don’t include disqualifying Trump.

Read more: Trump privately voicing 'concern' high court will rule against him: NYT's Maggie Haberman

That's because the Supreme Court has received two appeals to Colorado’s decision to bump Trump from its ballot — one from state Republicans and another filed Wednesday by Trump’s legal team.

While Trump’s team argues the Colorado Supreme Court erred its ruling, Republicans argue the 14th Amendment does not apply to presidents.

Should the court take up the second appeal, they would have the ability to uphold Trump's candidacy and, at the same time, rule he engaged in insurrection, Blake notes in an earlier piece.

"Leaving this issue unsettled risks its becoming more explosive," Blake wrote.

UCLA law professor Rick Hasen, who believes it “not at all legally far-fetched” that the Supreme Court will disqualify Trump, notes in the Washington Post piece that political factors could tip the scales.

“There’s no love lost between Trump and many of the conservatives on the Supreme Court,” Hasen reportedly said. “Some may think they’d be doing the Republican Party a favor to get rid of Trump, to the extent they think in any purely partisan calculation.”