Former President Donald Trump is one ruling away from bringing his 2024 candidacy before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Despite a previous ruling from a lower court that allowed him to remain on the state’s primary ballot, Trump is appealing the Colorado case that attempted to remove him from the ballot. This could be good news for Trump, given that he appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, creating a 6-3 Republican majority on the nation’s highest court.
The former president asked the Colorado Supreme Court to review the legal and factual rulings made by District Judge Sarah Wallace in an application for review that was filed on Monday. According to the president’s attorneys, the rulings are “wholly unsupported by the law.” Judge Wallace found that Trump had “incited” the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, but he disagreed with the plaintiffs’ argument that the president was subject to the law.
In this case, it is the second appeal. In addition to the case against Trump, a group of Colorado voters appealed to the state Supreme Court in 67 pages.
Speaking with Newsweek, constitutional attorney Kent Greenfield argued that the appeals court is expected to rule in a matter of weeks and that in the event that the court rules against Trump, “there is little doubt that the Trump campaign will petition for review at the Supreme Court.”
“If that happens, it is highly likely that the Court will hear the case on an expedited schedule,” Greenfield said. “This could be the most important political case the Court has heard since Bush v. Gore.”
According to Greenfield, the Supreme Court, which is attempting to “avoid it if they can,” is unlikely to consider a petition from the former president if the appeals court does rule in favor of Trump.
“It was just a matter of time before the Supreme Court had to address this issue,” former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, Neama Rahmani, told Newsweek. “It’s an unsettled matter of important constitutional significance, and now we have inconsistent rulings across the country.”