In 1868After the American Civil War, which pitted eleven secessionist states of the South against the so-called Unionists of the North, the United States Constitution was amended to include an express ban on any person sworn to defend them when assuming public office had he committed uprisings or rebellions against the state. This amendment to the American Magna Carta took place in the context of reconstruction in a war-ravaged country, with the aim of ensuring a certain political-institutional stability in order to leave behind the darkest period of its history. Given the possibility that those who led the insurrection could hold public office again, it was decided to change the fundamental document of the state in order to prevent the secessionists from finding themselves again in a situation of power that would allow them, the country still to keep it in check. Thus, anyone who has sworn to the Constitution and “participated in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution, or given aid or assistance to the enemies thereof,” would be barred from holding public office unless two-thirds of Congress and the Senate voted to abolish said disqualification.
On December 19, the Colorado State Supreme Court ruled by a vote of four to three against former president and candidate in the Republican Party primaries, Donald Trump, alleging that he played a crucial role in the storming of the Capitol in Washington DC. of January 6, 2021, Events for which the court assigns responsibility and which it considers to be acts of insurrection. The consequences of this ruling are that the former president will not be able to participate in his party’s primaries in that state since, according to the court, he is barred from holding public office. As I analyzed in these pages back in December 2021, Trump was not only instrumental in inciting the masses to the protests that took place at the time, but he also tried to put pressure on then Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the vote by a section of the Population to avoid electoral college that would vote Joe Bidenand attempted an unprecedented political and institutional coup. The president faces multiple trials in the coming months to determine his guilt or innocence in these events, which will determine the political future of the United States.
And that’s exactly one of the problems with the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling. Although the court itself could have clearly established the former president’s involvement in the insurrectionary events, the reality is that no court has indicted and convicted him for it. Despite it. Although the court could have found that the former president’s actions amounted to sedition, he was unable to put forward a defense and therefore no firm conviction could be established for these incidents. For this reason, the court’s decision was not unanimous and was rejected by three justices, who argued precisely that Trump could not yet be disqualified because he would not be allowed to defend himself in court. We will have to wait until March to find out what the real consequences of this ruling will be.
On the other hand, the case is now in the hands of the Supreme Court of the United States, which must decide two main questions: first, the validity of the disqualification based on the President’s alleged actions in the events of January 6; Second, whether the 14th Amendment also applies to the figure of the president. In any case, we are faced with a complex scenario since a presidential candidate has not been disqualified by a court. The judges themselves have pointed this out in their writings, in which they assume their decisive and novel role, seeing themselves as pioneers and recognizing the seriousness of the events and their consequences.
This news was met with outrage by the former president’s campaign team, although it is believed that he can exploit the situation politically and once again portray himself as the victim of a conspiracy by the Democratic Party to keep him from power. The reality is that the Supreme Court will certainly overturn the Colorado ruling, but even if that happens, a legal Pandora’s Box has been opened, opening the way for courts in other states or even a federal court. to speak out in this regard, especially if the trial in March does not go well for Trump.
And there is still a real separation of powers in the United States. We have before us the clearest example of the need to maintain an independent judiciary capable of acting in defense of the system, even when there are those who seek to remain in power through their power and public offices .