POLITICO
Even as Trump rumbles to the nomination, his eligibility to run for president still has not been settled.
Donald Trump’s convincing victory in the New Hampshire primary positions puts him on an easy path to the nomination, right?
Not quite.
Trump still has a significant hurdle ahead of him, and no amount of fundraising or voter outreach can eliminate it: He needs to win a potentially decisive showdown at the Supreme Court.
On Feb. 8, the high court will hear oral arguments on whether Trump is an insurrectionist who is barred by the 14th Amendment from running for president. Trump is appealing a Colorado decision that determined he was disqualified due to his actions before and during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
If the court answers “yes” — and assuming that answer applies to the primaries as well as the general election — Trump can’t become the Republican nominee, no matter what the primary results dictate.
Most legal observers doubt that a majority of justices will declare Trump ineligible to run. A far more likely result, experts say, is that the court will find an “off-ramp” that will allow Trump to remain on the ballot based on a narrow or technical reading of the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause.
