Mixed Emotions on This

The Colorado Supreme Court has excluded Donald Trump from the primary ballot on the basis of the 14th Amendment insurrection clause.

The MAGAt butt-hurt over this is exquisite.  I will use their tears to season my soup for decades to come.

On the other hand, Trump has not yet actually been convicted of a crime related to insurrection, (Yet) and the potential for abuse of this ruling, and I shudder at the prospect of someone like delusional U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk having similar authority.

I do think that this complicates matters for the right-wing hacks on the Supreme Court though, because they now have to rule on both the Colorado case, while ruling in an expedited manner on Special Prosecutor Jack Smith's challenge to Donald Trump's claims of complete immunity for everything forever.

It jams up the Supreme Court 's conservatives something fierce which is an unalloyed good.

Colorado’s top court ruled on Tuesday that former President Donald J. Trump is disqualified from holding office again because he engaged in insurrection with his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, an explosive ruling that is likely to put the basic contours of the 2024 election in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Colorado Supreme Court was the first in the nation to find that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — which disqualifies people who engage in insurrection against the Constitution after taking an oath to support it — applies to Mr. Trump, an argument that his opponents have been making around the country.

The ruling directs the Colorado secretary of state to exclude Mr. Trump’s name from the state’s Republican primary ballot. It does not address the general election.

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” a four-justice majority wrote, with three justices dissenting. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”

Mr. Trump’s campaign said immediately that it would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Colorado justices anticipated that likelihood by putting their ruling on hold at least until Jan. 4; if Mr. Trump appeals before then, the hold will continue until the Supreme Court rules. And while Tuesday’s ruling applies only to one state, it could all but force the nation’s highest court to decide the question for all 50.

I do not think that there is any way that the Supreme Court can not rule on this and retain any credibility, and, absent a conviction for insurrectionist acts, I think that it is EXTREMELY likely that they will overturn the Colorado Supreme Court decision.

But if they do, and then they write Trump a get out of jail free card for the insurrection investigation, I think that we will start seeing a significant portion of the populace invoking Andrew Jackson's, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it."

This is not a good thing.  Andrew Jackson was doing this in service of ethnic cleansing, but we are definitely getting to that poing.