A five-member majority from the court said in Monday's ruling that Congress would need to pass an enforcement mechanism before states could remove federal candidates from the ballot based on the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.” Four members of the court – the three liberals, plus Justice Amy Coney Barrett – disagreed.
"The relevant provision is Section 5, which enables Congress, subject of course to judicial review, to pass 'appropriate legislation' to 'enforce' the Fourteenth Amendment.”Some more context: This finding from the majority revolves around whether the insurrectionist ban is “self-executing,” which would mean that its ratification in 1868 is enough for election officials or courts to enforce it against Trump or any other candidate.
Historically, that is what happened to thousands of Confederates during Reconstruction, according to testimony at the Colorado disqualification trial from a leading constitutional scholar.
Trump argued that the Colorado courts got it wrong when they concluded that Congress doesn’t need to pass a resolution disqualifying him from office for the ban to be enforced against him.
One of the dissenting Colorado justices embraced Trump’s theory that the provision isn’t self-executing, citing a ruling from the 1869 “Griffin’s Case,” which Trump heavily leaned on in his Supreme Court appeal.
Persons:
“, Amy Coney Barrett –, United States …, Trump
Organizations:
United, Congress, Trump
Locations:
United States, Colorado