The Daily Fuckup

The Supreme Court did not fast-track Donald Trump’s Colorado ballot case on February 3. It did that on January 5, when the justices granted review and set the case for oral argument on February 8. The schedule was unusually compressed, but it was still just a schedule. It did not tell anyone how the Court will resolve the merits. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/010524zr2_886b.pdf?utm_source=openai))

That distinction matters because the case turns on a blunt constitutional question: whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars Trump from the ballot after the Colorado Supreme Court concluded he was disqualified under that provision. The Supreme Court’s order moved the dispute onto a fast track, with merits briefs due in January and reply papers due by February 5, leaving the justices little time before argument. The result was to pull the fight out of the normal slow crawl of election litigation and force it into a single, high-profile hearing. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/010524zr2_886b.pdf?utm_source=openai))

For Trump, that meant the case could not be left to simmer in lower-court limbo. The accelerated briefing and argument timetable made it more likely the issue would be decided before the campaign season entered its busiest stretch, which is an inference from the Court’s order rather than a statement from the justices themselves. The practical effect was obvious anyway: state ballot officials, litigants and voters would get an answer faster than they usually do in a case with national election consequences. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/010524zr2_886b.pdf?utm_source=openai))

The underlying dispute is bigger than Colorado. It asks whether a former president accused of trying to block the transfer of power after the 2020 election can be kept off presidential ballots under a Civil War-era constitutional clause written to bar oath-breaking officials who engaged in insurrection from returning to office. That is why the Court’s expedited schedule drew so much attention: it did not resolve the issue, but it made clear the justices intended to confront it quickly and publicly. Trump’s team has argued the matter belongs with voters, while challengers say the Constitution already supplies the answer. The Court heard those arguments on February 8. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/010524zr2_886b.pdf?utm_source=openai))