Supreme Court hears historic case on removing Trump from ballot

Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas has faced pressure to recuse himself from the Colorado ballot case from liberals who have seized on his wife’s conservative activism and efforts to reverse the 2020 election results. 

In a letter sent by eight Democratic lawmakers to Thomas last month as the court was still considering whether to take up Trump’s appeal, the lawmakers Virginia “Ginni” Thomas’ role in the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally that she attended make it “unthinkable” the justice could be impartial in deciding whether the event constituted an insurrection. 

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin also called for Thomas’ recusal in a social media post Wednesday. 

“Given questions surrounding his wife’s involvement, Justice Thomas should recuse himself so there’s no question of bias,” Durbin wrote.  

Thomas has so far resisted the recusal calls, though he or any other justice could recuse themselves at any point. They are not required to explain themselves either way. 

Other ethics issues have dogged the justice over the last year, with a steady stream of stories about a GOP megadonor’s largesse to Thomas – which have mostly gone unreported on the justice’s financial disclosures – raising questions about transparency at the high court.  

Grace Kiple, a first-year student at Georgetown Law School, arrived at the Supreme Court a day before the historic arguments just to ensure she would have a seat inside the courtroom. That meant she had to stay overnight on the sidewalk. She came prepared with a sleeping bag and a yoga mat.

“I’ve never camped before,” Kiple said, clutching a large coffee. “This case is such a big thing.”

There were a handful of protesters outside the high court early Thursday, including some who held signs declaring former President Donald Trump a “traitor.” A line for public access snaked along one side of the building. Some wore suits and ties. Others snuggled into sleeping bags and sat on camp chairs.

Kendra Sharrard, also a first-year Georgetown Law student, said she and Kiple had been planning to attend the arguments for a long time.

The team of attorneys challenging former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on the ballot expressed confidence that they will “run the table” when the Supreme Court meets for historic oral arguments in the case today.

At issue is whether the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” bars Trump from appearing on the ballot because of his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Nicolais acknowledged the lawyers opposite Trump will “have to be perfect” and “win every argument” when they appear before the justices. Many experts believe the conservative Supreme Court is likely looking for a narrow path to settle the dispute in Trump’s favor.

“This case puts the court in a tough position,” said Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a group representing the voters challenging Trump. “I think they'd rather not be thinking about these issues, but it is what the democracy requires and what the Constitution requires at this moment.”

Former President Donald Trump on Monday urged the Supreme Court to keep his name on Colorado’s ballot, accusing his challengers of pursuing an “anti-democratic” legal case against him.

Trump’s attorneys compared the litigation seeking to remove him from the ballot to anti-democratic efforts in Venezuela.

“Yet at a time when the United States is threatening sanctions against the socialist dictatorship in Venezuela for excluding the leading opposition candidate for president from the ballot,” they claimed, the voters who brought the case are asking the Supreme Court “to impose that same anti-democratic measure at home.”

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday in the blockbuster challenge to Trump’s ballot eligibility because of his role in the events that led to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. A group of Colorado voters claim those actions amounted to an insurrection and that the Constitution bars him from holding office.

Advocacy groups and critics of former President Donald Trump are trying to remove him from the 2024 presidential ballot based on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which says public officials who have “engaged in insurrection” are disqualified from ever serving again.

Two states – Colorado and Maine – have determined that this ban applies to Trump, because of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection. Both states stripped him from the Republican primary ballot, though those decisions were paused on appeal. The US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Colorado case on Thursday.

But the attempts to block Trump from the ballot fell flat in several other key states, where lawsuits were dismissed on procedural grounds and never reached the questions about Trump’s actions on January 6. This includes Minnesota, Michigan, Oregon, Arizona, Illinois, and elsewhere.

CNN is tracking the major decisions on Trump’s eligibility. See where the major anti-Trump ballot challenges stand across the United States.

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Thursday in the historic efforts to disqualify former President Donald Trump from office because of his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection. The case revolves around the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban,” a relic of the Civil War that hasn’t been touched in more than a century until the Trump-fueled attack on the US Capitol.

What does the 14th Amendment say? The 14th Amendment says Americans who take an oath to uphold the Constitution but then “engaged in insurrection” are disqualified from holding future public office.

However, the Constitution does not spell out how to enforce the ban. And there is an open legal debate over how some of the terms in the vague provision should be defined. For instance, the amendment doesn’t explain what level of political violence is tantamount to “insurrection.”

The US Supreme Court is reviewing a decision from the Colorado Supreme Court, which said in a landmark 4-3 ruling in December that the “insurrectionist ban” applies to Trump.

After turning several recent trials and court hearings into campaign stops, Donald Trump is not expected to be in the room when the highest court in the land takes up the question of his ballot eligibility, sources familiar with the planning tell CNN.

On Thursday, Trump’s lawyers will appear at the US Supreme Court for arguments over a decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to throw Trump off the state’s ballot under the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists holding public office. Trump currently doesn’t plan to be there. Instead, he’ll be at Mar-a-Lago in Florida before traveling to a Nevada caucus victory party in Las Vegas.

“There is no upside to him attending these arguments,” one source close to the legal team tells CNN. “Trump understands how serious this is – the stakes could not be higher.”

Trump’s decision not to attend the historic Supreme Court arguments in the case – which would determine his ballot eligibility nationwide – is an indication of how carefully his team is handling the case before the court where Trump appointed one-third of the justices on the bench to create a conservative supermajority.

The arguments come as the Supreme Court is also expected to consider a more perilous legal question for Trump – whether he is immune from criminal prosecution for his actions following the 2020 election. Trump may feel more strongly about attending those arguments, according to another source familiar with his legal strategy.

While many legal experts believe Trump could prevail on the ballot challenges issue, his appearance could be considered disruptive to the normally staid and above-the-fray decorum of the Supreme Court.

Trump and his team have treated various court appearances as opportunities for him to cry “election interference,” call out who he deems “Trump-hating” judges and attack the system as rigged “political persecution.” His presence and the attendant

Keep reading here about how Trump is juggling the campaign and courtroom.

Few critical US democratic institutions have escaped unsullied from a tangle with Donald Trump.

Now, the US Supreme Court faces its greatest test so far from the former president.

On Thursday, the nine justices will hear a case with critical implications for the 2024 election – over the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove Trump from the ballot over the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist” clause.

How Trump works the refs: Even though Trump is not expected to attend Thursday’s oral arguments at the Supreme Court, the justices know what’s coming.

The prospect of being dragged into the hyper-politicized arena of a presidential election is a nightmare enough for Chief Justice John Roberts, who has often sought to guard the high court against reputational damage from the country’s raging politics.

But an election case involving Trump, in a time of far greater partisan fury than the bitter aftermath of the 2000 election, could be an even graver matter – especially if any of the court’s rulings eventually go against Trump.

How Trump leans on judges: Any judge that delivers verdicts contradictory to Trump’s view risks becoming a target. The former president’s attack on a district judge that ruled against the Trump administration in an asylum case prompted Roberts in 2019 to try to insulate the judiciary from politics. “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts wrote in an extraordinary statement that did not name Trump, but clearly had him in mind. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”

Read more about how few critical US institutions have emerged unscathed from an encounter with Trump.

The Supreme Court has set aside 80 minutes for arguments in today’s historic dispute over whether former President Donald Trump disqualified himself from the ballot for his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.  

In reality, the debate will carry on for much longer.  

Trump’s attorney, Jonathan Mitchell, is expected to kick off the arguments a little after 10 a.m. ET with a brief opening statement and will then field a barrage of questions from the bench. Jason Murray, representing the Colorado voters who challenged Trump, will present next. Finally, Shannon Stevenson, Colorado’s top appellate attorney, will speak on behalf of Secretary of State Jena Griswold.  

Each attorney will first take questions from the justices in something of a free-for-all format. Then, Chief Justice John Roberts will permit each justice to ask a few questions in order of seniority.  

At the end of the arguments, Mitchell will return to the well of the courtroom for a short rebuttal.  

Arguing before the Supreme Court involves an enormous amount of preparation, from nailing the intricacies of an argument to anticipating hypothetical questions from justices.  

Mitchell arranged two moot courts to practice before the justices took their seats. Murray had planned four. Such sessions are designed to expose the weaknesses in a case, devise solutions and refine its strong points. The tougher the moot – the adage goes – the smoother the actual argument. 

Read more about how the arguments are expected to unfold.