GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy came to the defense of former President Donald Trump on Thursday at the Supreme Court, urging the justices to keep his rival on the 2024 ballot.
In an amicus brief, Mr. Ramaswamy said the high court should overturn the decision of a divided Colorado Supreme Court that removed Mr. Trump from the ballot under the Constitution’s prohibition against candidates who engage in insurrection.
He said to uphold the ruling under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment would cause partisan chaos in the states by encouraging some political leaders to try to score points by keeping unfavorable candidates from running for office.
Mr. Ramaswamy said upholding the Colorado decision would allow politicians in the future to “simply concoct a reason to declare a disfavored presidential candidate of the opposing party ineligible to run for office.”
“For voters, the message will be equally clear: Scour the records of disfavored candidates for speeches containing martial rhetoric, or even policies that had unintended consequences, and then file challenges under Section 3,” his brief stated. “The number of Section 3 complaints will proliferate, as will the number of divergent outcomes.”
The brief also argues that the presidency historically shouldn’t be considered subject to Section 3, what’s become known as the insurrection clause.
Mr. Ramaswamy said the only reason Mr. Trump was banned from the ballot — the first such case in history — was because Democrats fear him.
“Democrats fear the potential consequences of Trump’s election in 2024 more than any party has ever feared the victory of an opposing candidate,” Mr. Ramaswamy’s brief states.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last month that Mr. Trump engaged in an insurrection with his behavior surrounding the 2020 election and removed his name from the state’s primary ballots, setting up the showdown at the Supreme Court.
The justices have decided to hear the appeal, which is scheduled for arguments on Feb. 8.
The Colorado decision was the first major ruling on the question to go against Mr. Trump, though other blue states could be looking to follow in Colorado’s lead. Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State also has removed Mr. Trump from the ballot, using the same legal justification.
The Colorado justices for the majority acknowledged they were breaking new legal ground. But they said their reading of the U.S. Constitution indicated Mr. Trump was part of an insurrection that saw a pro-Trump mob delay counting of the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
Though Mr. Trump is facing several indictments, he has not been charged or convicted of leading an insurrection during the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Those hoping to remove Mr. Trump from state ballots point to the Constitution’s clause which reads: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
The provision was written into the 14th Amendment with the Civil War in mind, but the former president’s opponents say it should apply to his attempts to stop certification of President Biden’s victory.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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