US top court strikes down Colorado bid to remove Trump from primary ballot

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a decision by Colorado’s top court to exclude former President Donald Trump from the state’s Republican primary ballot, clearing an obstacle for the dominant GOP front-runner’s bid to return to the White House for a second term .The high-stakes decision came on the eve of “Super Tuesday” — a pivotal moment of the intraparty nomination race, when 15 states, including Colorado, are to vote with more than a third of all Republican delegates up for grabs on the single day. The court justices overturned the Colorado court ruling, saying that states cannot invoke a post-Civil War constitutional provision to keep a presidential candidate from ballots as that power resides with Congress, according to the Associated Press. Trump hailed the ruling as a “unifying” factor, saying that it is a “very big day” for “America” and for “liberty.” “You cannot take somebody out of a race because an opponent would like to have it that way,” he said in a livestreamed speech. “Voters can take the person out of the race very quickly, but a court shouldn’t be doing that and the Supreme Court saw that very well … I really do believe that will be a unifying factor,” he added.

Trump also repeated his argument that presidents have to be given “full” immunity. “If a president does not have full immunity, you really don’t have a president because nobody that is serving in that office will have the courage to make, in many cases, what would be the right decision,” he said. “They have to make (decisions) free of all terror that can be raised upon them when they leave office. “Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled in December to disqualify him from holding office because of his involvement in connection with the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. The ruling pitted Trump’s supporters who called it election interference, against those demanding accountability over the attack .Maine and Illinois also barred Trump from appearing on their ballots, but their decisions were put on hold pending the Supreme Court ruling. Trump has dominated the state-by-state nomination contest except for a loss to his last rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in Washington, D.C. on Sunday — a minor defeat unlikely to affect the overall primary trajectory .Political watchers say that barring an unforeseen debacle, Trump could likely secure the party’s nomination as early as this month to face Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 general election. A Republican candidate must reach the magic number of 1,215 — a majority of the total 2,429 party delegates — to become the GOP standard-bearer. The party will officially announce its 토토 ultimate nominee at its convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July.