Supreme Court ruling on insurrection ballot eligibility leaves open questions
It’s now a formality that Donald Trump will be the Republican Party’s nominee for President.
This week, the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision disallows states from removing him from their primary ballots. But there were three different opinions from the justices that show they aren’t exactly unified.
This centers around the Constitution’s 14th Amendment provision that prohibits insurrectionists from holding federal office.
The majority opinion from five justices goes on to say the 14th Amendment provision leaves it up to Congress to decide how people can be disqualified.
It adds the Supreme Court still has the power to make the final call.
However, the three liberal justices in their concurring opinion claim the majority opinion tries to protect those accused in the Jan. 6th attack from being challenged to holding federal office in the future.
And Justice Amy Coney Barrett had a solo concurring opinion criticizing that it shouldn’t only be up to Congress to enforce.
Host Jim Niedelman returns with Host Jim Niedelman gets into that with Scott County Republican Party Chair Jeanita McNulty and former Rock Island Mayor Mark Schwiebert, a Democrat.
“The Supreme Court did make the right decision,” McNulty said. “I don’t think a lot of people expected it to be unanimous. We’re happy with the decision that they made.”
“I think it’s pretty clear that Donald Trump committed an insurrection against the c9ountry,” Schwiebert said. “This is something that really needs to be dealt with on a federal level, rather than on a state-by-state basis.”
Hear what else our panelists think when you click on the video.
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