This deserves a longer write up than I can give it right now, but Biden would be much better off arguing that Trump isn’t a valid candidate than arguing that we should pick him over Trump. He’s avoided it because he thinks Trump is his only argument, but he needs more if we’re gonna win this.
Trump v Anderson is much more vulnerable than it appears at first blush, and if I were a blue state AG, I would consider announcing that I won’t print ballots with his name because the Supreme Court says he’s disqualified. Invite Congress to intervene if they want to compel me to change.
Trump v Anderson. The Court’s sinister supermajority affirmed all six points of Trump’s disqualification, and skipped to the question: Did CO err in ordering Trump off of the ballot? That’s what their whole decision is based on. They said he was disqualified, but Congress had to enforce that.
No, this is false. The Court recounted the Colorado Supreme Court's decision that Trump was disqualified, but in no way did the Court claim any agreement (or disagreement) with this holding.
If they don’t challenge the holding, doesn’t it leave it standing? Or does it simply wipe it clear? Because if he’s not disqualified, then why does enforcement of Section 3 matter? They could just say there’s nothing to enforce, right?
No. When a court says "we don't need to review this part because it's irrelevant" it doesn't adopt that holding - it says "even if you're right it wouldn't impact the outcome so we're not wasting our time deciding whether it's right or wrong"
But there are plenty of state laws that forbid ineligible candidates for state office from appearing on the ballot, and there the holding still has weight. It was reversed on other grounds. He is probably ineligible to run for governor of CO (though he might get a new shot at litigating the facts).
Sure. Here in PA, we have a state constitutional provision which prevents people convicted of "infamous crimes" (all felonies, more or less, and misdemeanors sounding in dishonesty) from serving in public office. We can enforce that via ballot access litigation as to state and local offices.
Yes. In Maine, we would probably need to start over at square one, though the Secretary of State’s findings from December could be introduced as evidence in a new challenge. Trump is actually still litigating here to have those findings vacated.
