The Daily Fuckup

Donald Trump began 2024 with two state ballot fights already running and the U.S. Supreme Court being asked to move quickly. In Colorado, the state’s top court ruled on Dec. 19, 2023, that Trump was disqualified from the state’s presidential primary ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The court then stayed its ruling until Jan. 4, 2024, unless the Supreme Court acted first. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-696/294451/20231228124338434_Colorado-Republican-State-Central-Committee-v.-Anderson-Cert-Petition-request%20to%20expedite%20FINAL%20PDFA.pdf))

Maine moved on Dec. 28, 2023. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows issued a decision removing Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the same constitutional provision and stayed the effect of that decision while Trump pursued review. The Maine court record later described the ruling as a final agency decision issued on Dec. 28 that Trump appealed on Jan. 2, 2024. ([courts.maine.gov](https://www.courts.maine.gov/news/trump/Ken-24-24_2024.01.24_decision.pdf?utm_source=openai))

The Colorado Republican Party asked the Supreme Court to take up the case on an accelerated schedule, arguing that the dispute could not wait for the Court’s normal calendar in a presidential year with January primaries and Super Tuesday set for March 5. The filing said the party wanted a ruling before that date if possible. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-696/294451/20231228124338434_Colorado-Republican-State-Central-Committee-v.-Anderson-Cert-Petition-request%20to%20expedite%20FINAL%20PDFA.pdf))

The practical effect was to pull Trump’s campaign into a constitutional fight before the year was even a week old. The rulings were state-specific, and neither one by itself settled the question nationwide. But both turned the same issue into a live election problem: whether state officials could use Section 3 to keep Trump off presidential primary ballots because of his role in the events surrounding Jan. 6, 2021. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-696/294451/20231228124338434_Colorado-Republican-State-Central-Committee-v.-Anderson-Cert-Petition-request%20to%20expedite%20FINAL%20PDFA.pdf))