The Supreme Court has decided that states lack the authority to remove Trump from the ballot due to his involvement in the insurrection.

 The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that states lack the authority to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot due to his involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attacks. In an unsigned opinion, the majority of justices held that only Congress, not states, has the power to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. This section, enacted after the Civil War, disqualifies individuals from holding office if they previously supported the Confederacy after serving in government roles.

All nine justices agreed that Colorado could not disqualify Trump from the ballot. However, four justices, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, argued that the court should have stopped there without further decision.

The dispute originated in a Colorado state court last year, where voters argued that Trump was ineligible for the ballot under Section 3. Although a trial court agreed that Trump had engaged in insurrection, it ruled that the presidency was not an "office under the United States." The Colorado Supreme Court later determined that Trump was indeed ineligible.

In a 13-page opinion, the Supreme Court reversed the Colorado court's decision, emphasizing that only Congress can make determinations under Section 3. Allowing states to enforce Section 3 could lead to inconsistencies and chaos in elections, the court argued.

The court did not address other issues raised by Trump, such as whether he engaged in insurrection on January 6. Justice Barrett concurred with the decision but criticized the court's involvement in deciding how Section 3 should be enforced.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson agreed with the outcome but disagreed with the majority's reasoning. They argued that the court should not have determined how Section 3 can be enforced.

The decision has implications for similar cases in Maine and Illinois, where Trump's eligibility for the ballot is being challenged. It comes shortly after the court agreed to hear another case involving Trump's alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results.