4A Tuesday, March 5, 2024
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia I gainesvilletimes.com
NATION
Supreme Court restores Trump to ballot
BY MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald
Trump gestures at a campaign rally, March 2, in Richmond, Va.
Steve Helber Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
Supreme Court on Monday unani
mously restored Donald Trump to
2024 presidential primary ballots,
rejecting state attempts to ban the
Republican former president over
the Capitol riot.
The justices ruled a day before
the Super Tuesday primaries that
states cannot invoke a post-Civil
War constitutional provision to
keep presidential candidates from
appearing on ballots. That power
resides with Congress, the court
wrote in an unsigned opinion.
Trump posted on his social
media network shortly after the
decision was released: “BIG WIN
FOR AMERICA!!!”
The outcome ends efforts in
Colorado, Illinois, Maine and else
where to kick Trump, the front-run
ner for his party's nomination, off
the ballot because of his attempts
to undo his loss in the 2020 elec
tion to Democrat Joe Biden, culmi
nating in the Jan. 6,2021, attack on
the Capitol.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena
Griswold expressed disappoint
ment in the court's decision as she
acknowledged that “Donald Trump
is an eligible candidate on Colo
rado's 2024 Presidential Primary.”
Trump's case was the first at the
Supreme Court dealing with a pro
vision of the 14th Amendment that
was adopted after the Civil War to
prevent former officeholders who
“engaged in insurrection” from
holding office again.
Colorado's Supreme Court,
in a first-of-its-kind ruling, had
decided that the provision, Sec
tion 3, could be applied to Trump,
who that court found incited the
Capitol attack. No court before had
applied Section 3 to a presidential
candidate.
The justices sidestepped the
politically fraught issue of insur
rection in their opinions Monday,
but some Trump critics pointed to
the silence on that topic as a victory
of sorts because the court failed to
absolve him of responsibility for
the Capitol riot.
The court held that states may
bar candidates from state office.
“But States have no power under
the Constitution to enforce Section
3 with respect to federal offices,
especially the Presidency,” the
court wrote.
While all nine justices agreed
that Trump should be on the ballot,
there was sharp disagreement from
the three liberal members of the
court and a milder disagreement
from conservative Justice Amy
Coney Barrett that their colleagues
went too far in determining what
Congress must do to disqualify
someone from federal office.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena
Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson
said they agreed that allowing the
Colorado decision to stand could
create a “chaotic state by state
patchwork” but said they disagreed
with the majority's finding a dis
qualification for insurrection can
only happen when Congress enacts
legislation. “Today, the major
ity goes beyond the necessities of
this case to limit how Section 3
can bar an oathbreaking insurrec
tionist from becoming President,”
the three justices wrote in a joint
opinion.
It's unclear whether the ruling
leaves open the possibility that
Congress could refuse to certify
the election of Trump or any other
presidential candidate it sees as
having violated Section 3.
Derek Muller, a law professor
at Notre Dame University, said “it
seems no,” noting that the liberals
complained that the majority rul
ing forecloses any other ways for
Congress to enforce the provision.
Rick Hasen, a law professor at the
University of California-Los Ange
les, wrote that it's frustratingly
unclear what the bounds might be
on Congress.
Hasen was among those urging
the court to settle the issue so there
wasn't the risk of Congress reject
ing Trump under Section 3 when
it counts electoral votes on Jan. 6,
2025.
“We may well have a nasty, nasty
post-election period in which Con
gress tries to disqualify Trump but
the Supreme Court says Congress
exceeded its powers,” he wrote.
Both sides had requested fast
work by the court, which heard
arguments less than a month ago,
on Feb. 8. The justices seemed
poised then to rule in Trump's
favor.
Trump had been kicked off the
ballots in Colorado, Maine and Illi
nois, but all three rulings were on
hold awaiting the Supreme Court's
decision.
The case is the court's most
direct involvement in a presiden
tial election since Bush v. Gore, a
decision delivered a quarter-cen
tury ago that effectively handed
the 2000 election to Republican
George W. Bush. And it's just one
of several cases involving Trump
directly or that could affect his
chances of becoming president
again, including a case scheduled
for arguments in late April about
whether he can be criminally pros
ecuted on election interference
charges, including his role in the
Captil riot. The timing of the high
court's intervention has raised
questions about whether Trump
will be tried before the November
election.
The arguments in February were
the first time the high court had
heard a case involving Section
3. The two-sentence provision,
intended to keep some Confeder
ates from holding office again,
says that those who violate oaths to
support the Constitution are barred
from various positions includ
ing congressional offices or serv
ing as presidential electors. But it
does not specifically mention the
presidency.
Conservative and liberal justices
questioned the case against Trump.
Their main concern was whether
Congress must act before states
can invoke the 14th Amendment.
There also were questions about
whether the president is covered
by the provision.
The lawyers for Republican
and independent voters who sued
to remove Trump's name from
the Colorado ballot had argued
that there is ample evidence that
the events of Jan. 6 constituted an
insurrection and that it was incited
by Trump, who had exhorted a
crowd of his supporters at a rally
outside the White House to “fight
like hell.” They said it would be
absurd to apply Section 3 to every
thing but the presidency or that
Trump is somehow exempt. And
the provision needs no enabling
legislation, they argued.
Trump's lawyers mounted sev
eral arguments for why the amend
ment can't be used to keep him off
the ballot. They contended the Jan.
6 riot wasn't an insurrection and,
even if it was, Trump did not go to
the Capitol or join the rioters. The
wording of the amendment also
excludes the presidency and can
didates running for president, they
said. Even if all those arguments
failed, they said, Congress must
pass legislation to reinvigorate Sec
tion 3.
The case was decided by a
court that includes three justices
appointed by Trump when he
was president. They have consid
ered many Trump-related cases in
recent years, declining to embrace
his bogus claims of fraud in the
2020 election and refusing to
shield tax records from Congress
and prosecutors in New York.
The 5-4 decision in Bush v.
Gore case more than 23 years ago
was the last time the court was so
deeply involved in presidential pol
itics. Justice Clarence Thomas is
the only member of the court who
was on the bench then. Thomas has
ignored calls by some Democratic
lawmakers to step aside from the
Trump case because his wife,
Ginni, supported Trump's effort to
overturn the 2020 election results
and attended the rally that pre
ceded the storming of the Capitol
by Trump supporters.
Associated Press writers Lind
say Whitehurst and Nicholas Ric-
cardi contributed to this report.
Riccardi reported from Denver.
White House defends Harris meeting with Israeli Cabinet official
BYAAMERMADHANI
ANDSEUNGMINKIM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Vice
President Kamala Harris
and other top Biden admin
istration officials were hold
ing talks on Monday with a
member of Israel's wartime
Cabinet who came to Wash
ington in defiance of Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.
White House officials
said Benny Gantz, a centrist
political rival of Netanyahu,
requested the meeting and
the Democratic administra
tion believed it was important
to meet with the prominent
Israeli official despite Netan
yahu's objections.
The meeting comes as
President Joe Biden, Harris
and other senior administra
tion officials have become
increasingly blunt about
their dissatisfaction with the
mounting death toll in Gaza
and suffering of innocent
Palestinians as the war nears
the five-month mark.
“We’re going to discuss
a number of things in terms
of the priorities that certainly
we have, which includes
getting a hostage deal done,
getting aid in and then get
ting that six-week ceasefire,”
Harris told reporters before
her meeting with Gantz.
The U.S. on Saturday car
ried out the first of what is
expected to be ongoing aid-
rops of humanitarian aid into
Gaza.
The moment is reflective
of the increasingly awkward
dynamics in the U.S.-Israel
relationship, with the U.S.
forced to fly badly needed aid
past its close ally as it looks
to ramp up assistance for des
perate civilians in Gaza. The
first airdrop occurred just
days after more than 100 Pal
estinians were killed as they
were trying to get food from
an Israel-organized convoy.
The White House agreed
to the meeting with Gantz
even as an official from
Netanyahu's national
ist Likud party said Gantz
did not have approval from
the prime minister for his
meetings in Washington.
Netanyahu gave Gantz a
“tough talk” about the visit
— underscoring a widening
crack within Israel's wartime
leadership.
“We have been deal
ing with all members of
the war Cabinet, including
Mr. Gantz,” White House
national security spokesman
John Kirby said. “We see
this as a natural outgrowth of
those discussions. We're not
going to turn away that sort
of opportunity.”
In addition to his talks with
Harris, Gantz is meeting on
Monday with National Secu
rity Council Middle East
coordinator Brett McGurk
and Jake Sullivan, the White
House national security
adviser. Gantz was also
scheduled to meet on Mon
day with Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell.
And he will meet with Secre
tary of State Antony Blinken
on Tuesday.
Gantz just before the start
of his White House meetings
told a reporter with Israel's
public broadcaster Kan:
“There will be an open and
honest conversation between
two friendly and important
countries and partners.”
Biden is at Camp David,
the presidential retreat just
outside Washington, until
Tuesday as he prepares to
deliver the annual State of
the Union address later this
week.
Over the weekend, Harris
issued a forceful call for a
temporary cease-fire deal in
Gaza, which administration
officials say would halt fight
ing for at least six weeks,
and also increased pressure
on Israel not to impede the
aid that workers were trying
to get into the region. The
White House has been advo
cating for that framework
deal for weeks.
Israel has essentially
agreed to the deal, according
to a senior Biden administra
tion official, and the White
House has emphasized that
the onus is on Hamas to
come on board.
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