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- Trump is allowed on Colorado primary ballot: SCOTUS
- It was a 9-0 decision, though justices disagreed with scope of opinion
- Supreme Court judges also agreed to hear presidential immunity case
FILE – Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally, March 2, 2024, in Richmond, Va. The Supreme Court has restored Donald Trump to 2024 presidential primary ballots, rejecting state attempts to hold the Republican former president accountable for the Capitol riot. The justices ruled a day before the Super Tuesday primaries that states cannot invoke a post-Civil War constitutional provision to keep presidential candidates from appearing on ballots. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump called Monday’s Supreme Court ruling allowing him on the Colorado primary ballot something that will “go a long way toward bringing our country together.”
“They worked very quickly on something that will be spoken about 100 years from now and 200 years from now — (it’s) extremely important,” Trump said at a news conference after the nation’s highest court made its highly-anticipated 9-0 ruling.
Justices wrote in their opinion that states do not have the power to keep those running for federal office from appearing on ballots.
However, though all nine justices agreed Trump should be on the ballot, it was a 5-4 majority that agreed a federal candidate can only be disqualified for insurrection if Congress enacts legislation.
“The 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,” Trump said. “I really do believe that will be a unifying factor, because while most states were thrilled to have me, there were some that didn’t.”
Asked about how this Supreme Court opinion will affect him going into Super Tuesday, Trump said polls show that he’s “more popular” because of his legal challenges.
In his remarks to reporters, Trump also spent time addressing an upcoming Supreme Court case: whether or not he can be prosecuted on charges he interfered with the 2020 election.
“If a president doesn’t 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 — or it could be in some cases, the wrong decision,” Trump said. “But they have to make decisions, and they have to make them free of all terror that can be rained upon them when they leave office or even before they leave office.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
