Donald Trump moved another step closer to the 2024 GOP presidential nomination on Tuesday when he defeated former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley by roughly 11 percent in the New Hampshire primary. However, Haley has vowed to stay in the race and compete with Trump in the South Carolina primary.
In a report Wednesday, Politico's Erica Orden stressed that although Trump appears to be "on an easy path to the nomination," he is still facing a "significant hurdle" and a "potentially decisive showdown at the Supreme Court."
"On February 8, the High Court will hear oral arguments on whether Trump is an insurrectionist who is barred by the 14th Amendment from running for president," Orden wrote.
"Trump is appealing a Colorado decision that determined he was disqualified due to his actions before and during the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. If the Court answers 'yes' — and assuming that answer applies to the primaries as well as the general election — Trump can't become the Republican nominee, no matter what the primary results dictate."
Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment states that an "officer" who has engaged in "insurrection" is disqualified from running for certain positions. The Colorado Supreme Court and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows have decided that, based on that standard, Trump is disqualified from the ballots in their states.
However, officials in Michigan and deep blue California have decided to keep Trump on their ballots. Trump has appealed the Colorado ruling, and it remains to be seen whether the U.S. Supreme Court will agree with the Colorado Supreme Court or the former president.
Jessica Levinson, who teaches constitutional law at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, predicts that the High Court will overrule the Colorado decision.
Levinson told Politico, "I believe that the Court will find a way to find that he is, in fact, eligible for the ballot. At the end of the day, I can't escape the conclusion that the Supreme Court doesn't want to be the body that took this choice away from the voters…. I think they still have PTSD from Bush v. Gore."