On December 20, an extraordinary event occurred in the United States – the Colorado Supreme Court banned Donald Trump from participating in the presidential primaries.
The Colorado case is the third Trump-related incident this year. Before this, the former US President was indicted in an unprecedented criminal case. He was later accused of trying to seize power in the same unprecedented manner.
All this time, the media has written articles about the “uncharted territories” of American politics; Trump wrote a hysterical op-ed calling the United States a “banana republic,” and ordinary Americans chuckled at him. Roughly the same thing is happening now, except everyone is somehow not laughing anymore.
But first things first. The Colorado court issued a decision citing the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. It prohibits anyone who participated in the rebellion from holding elected office. The court ruled that the raid on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was an insurrection and that Trump, who instigated this incident, could be removed from the election. The decision will come into force on January 4. If the decision is not overturned, Trump’s name will not be on the ballot in the GOP primary elections in Colorado. So also in presidential elections.
It seems logical. But if you dig a little deeper, things don’t get that simple. We will now jump into the legal issues to the Colorado court’s conclusion; These exist and they are very serious. Let us instead focus on the “uncharted territories” that American observers write about.
First: What will happen to the rule of law in the United States? The Colorado court ruled with four votes in favor and three votes against. The judges who support the ban are under the patronage of Democrats who tightly control Colorado’s executive and legislative branches and who really dislike Trump.
Trump’s team announced that it would object. The US Supreme Court will consider this. And there – surprise, surprise! – the former president’s henchmen are sitting. No one has any doubt that they will side with him.
So, the question of the politicization of the courts in the United States remains hanging in the air. American judges appear to decide political cases based on partisan discipline. In this case, the Constitution is needed only to justify a deliberate decision. And with every scandal surrounding the former president, the line between the legal system and politics becomes increasingly blurred.
Second “uncharted territory”: How will Colorado’s decision affect the relationship between the federal government and the states? Generally, conservative Republicans are pushing for expanded state powers. Territorial rights were one of the main arguments of the Supreme Court, which struck down the constitutional right to abortion in the summer of 2022.
Colorado Democrats have taken this idea and taken it to the extreme. If states decide whether a woman gives birth, they say, then they should also decide who to elect as president. There is a logic to this: The organization of federal elections is already in the hands of the states. However, power games are dragging America onto a slippery slope.
Following Colorado, the Democratic states of California and Maine also expressed interest in removing Trump from the ballot. The Texas Republican said he would ban Joe Biden from being elected if they did that.
Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, the United States will be faced with two parallel votes and two winners whose legitimacy is highly questionable. And this is a direct path to civil conflict.
Finally, third: How far are Republicans and Democrats willing to go in the political fight and could they jeopardize government institutions? Of course, the use of institutional and administrative resources is not new to the United States. These same Republicans are shamelessly usurping congressional districts and citing veiled qualifications to disenfranchise disloyal voters. This is how they maintain power in the states they control.
Colorado Democrats are turning the courts against Trump in hopes of preserving power at the federal level. But they do this so clumsily and openly that their actions begin to threaten the prestige of the entire judicial branch of government. All this under conditions where the institutions of power in the United States already have problems with trust. One can only guess what further increases in interest rates will lead to.
To summarize, residents of the United States are no longer laughing because they are literally and figuratively discovering America. Politicians have long taught them about independent institutions and the rule of law in the United States. But what happened to Trump raises the question: How does all this compare to reality? The “uncharted territories” are becoming too dangerous and the “banana” side of the USA is becoming too obvious to ignore.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.