Supreme Court ruling on former President Trump's 2024 eligibility will have impact in Illinois
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The nation's highest court will decide whether former President Donald Trump can be removed from the Republican primary ballot in Colorado – and the ruling could impact Illinois, where a similar petition was filed this week.
The case is moving very fast – with oral arguments set to begin in early February.
The U.S. Supreme Court justices clearly recognized that they need to step in and determine whether the lower courts should play a role in determining who is on the ballot.
Saturday marks three years since supporters of then-President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol during the certification of President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
The insurrection will be key in the Supreme Court's ruling on whether Mr. Trump can be removed from the primary ballot in Colorado.
The Colorado case was brought by a group of six voters — four Republicans and two unaffiliated — who argued that Trump could not appear on the primary ballot because his actions related to the Jan. 6 riot rendered him ineligible for the White House under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment – known as the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause.
Enacted after the Civil War, the provision was intended to keep former Confederates out of office. It has rarely been used in modern times.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is also the rationale for a petition by a group of Illinois voters who petitioned Illinois election officials to have Mr. Trump removed from the state's GOP primary ballot on March 19.
The Illinois petition says the events of Jan. 6 "were an insurrection or a rebellion under Section 3, a violent, coordinated effort to storm the Capitol to obstruct and prevent the Vice President of the United States and United States Congress [from] certifying President Biden's victory, and to illegally extend then-President Trump's tenure in office."
The group of voters behind the petition – Steven Daniel Anderson, Charles J. Holley, Jack L Hickman, Ralph E Cintron, and Darryl P. Baker – is being represented by a voting rights organization called Free Speech for People.
"Donald Trump should be disqualified for running for the presidency again," said Caryn Lederer, the Chicago-based attorney who filed the Illinois petition.
Her objection argued that Mr. Trump should not be on Illinois' primary ballot because he violated part of the 14th Amendment – which prohibits anyone from holding office who previously has taken an oath and then participated in an insurrection.
More than a dozen states have filed similar petitions.
"If you try and overthrow the government, you cannot then be part of the government that you have tried to overthrow," Lederer said.
Stephen Maynard Caliendo is a professor of political science at North Central College, who weighed in on the issue as a political analyst.
"The U.S. Supreme Court is going to have to weigh in and decide what the 14th Amendment means," Caliendo told CBS 2's Charlie De Mar. "I think, Charlie, whatever the court decides, it's going to be best if they decide it unanimously. If this is a split decision, I think it's going to just feed in into the polarization and uncertainty about how the process works."
Former President Trump's campaign released a statement saying that they welcome a fair hearing before the Supreme Court, but they call the ballot challenges voter interference and suppression.
