The U.S. Supreme Court has set Feb. 8 as the date to hear former President Donald Trump's 14th Amendment appeal in which he argues that he should be eligible to remain on the Colorado primary election ballot, CNN reported.
The decision comes shortly after Trump’s legal team filed an appeal to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling barring him from the primary ballot. Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows, also issued an order disqualifying Trump from the state’s ballot over his alleged actions in the the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Both the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state’s rulings are on hold until the appeals play out.
The move now thrusts the the nine justices directly into the 2024 election fray, just days away before citizens begin casting votes in the Jan. 15 Iowa Caucuses.
It arguably is the court’s most critical role in the presidential race since it weighed in on the contested results of Bush v. Gore in 2000.
The decision by the Colorado Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision had many legal minds predicting the highest court would have to get involved with the matter and discern if Trump was in the position as an officer or when he gave a speech on the Ellipse on Jan. 6, coaxing a mob of supporters to march on the Capitol as Congress was certifying the presidential election for then-President Elect Joe Biden.
Trump's denials in both Colorado and Maine are anomalies.
That's because he's been winning in several other states; most recently Wyoming and also California, where his argument that the Fourteenth Amendment doesn't apply to presidents and, if it does, he didn't actually "engage in insurrection."
Trump remains the undisputed polling leader to become the 2024 Republican presidential nominee as the first test of his standing nears on Jan. 15 when the Iowa Caucuses happen.
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