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The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Donald Trump's eligibility to appear on Colorado's ballot for the 2024 presidential election raises an "important" question for Congress, according to attorney and legal commentator Elie Honig.
On CNN's Newsroom with Jim Acosta, Honig said that reporters should now be asking members of Congress questions on if they'd be willing to pass legislation to clearly define what an insurrectionist is.
"That's an important question for Congress moving forward," he said on Monday.
The Context:
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court reached a 9-0 decision to side with Trump and overturned a decision by the Colorado Supreme Court that the former president should be removed from the state's ballot in the 2024 election for his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In August, the former president was indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in its investigation regarding the riot. The insurrection saw a mob of Trump supporters—allegedly incited by his unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud—violently protest at the Capitol building in a failed effort to block Joe Biden's 2020 Electoral College victory. Trump has plead not guilty in the case, maintaining his innocence.
The Supreme Court in Colorado previously ruled that Trump was ineligible to appear on the state's 2024 election ballot because he violated the 14th Amendment, which states that any individual holding office that "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" should be stopped from running for any office in the future.
However, Trump appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court and was victorious on Monday.
The decision comes just ahead of Super Tuesday, a major day in the 2024 primary election, where Trump is set to face off against his Republican challenger, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, in several states.
What We Know:
Honig explained on CNN that an "important" feature of the Court's ruling on Monday is that "there is no substantive discussion in here by the Supreme Court of whether Donald Trump did or did not engage in insurrection."
"There is no conversation about the meaning of his words at the rally were or what happened inside the Capitol or any of Donald Trump's actions. That's not what the Supreme Court has done here, that's not what the Supreme Court typically does," he said. "Essentially, if I had to boil it down to one sentence it's 'it's up to Congress, not the individual states.'"
Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.
Views:
Responding to the ruling on Truth Social, his social media platform, Trump wrote, "BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!"
Norm Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, questioned the timing of the opinion release by the Supreme Court as it comes just one day before Super Tuesday.
"Why pick the day before Super Tuesday to give Trump a likely big judicial win? It's like an in-kind campaign contribution!" he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
What's Next?
Honig noted on CNN that if Congress was to pass legislation defining what an insurrectionist is, it couldn't apply to Trump.
In addition, the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Trump's claim that he has presidential immunity in his federal election interference case. In a brief order issued on Wednesday evening, the Court said that oral arguments scheduled to take place during the week of April 22 would decide whether or not ex-presidents have "presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts."
Update 3/4/24, 11:15 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with further information.
Update 3/4/24, 12:30 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with further information.
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About the writer
Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more