Former President Donald Trump applauded the Supreme Court for overturning the Colorado Supreme Court’s rejection of the Republican nominee from the ballot, saying the decision will help to unite the country.
“I think it will go a long way in bringing our country together, which our country needs,” he said at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
“They worked long, they worked hard, and frankly they worked very quickly on something that will be spoken about a hundred years from now and 200 years from now. Extremely important,” he added.
President Trump remarked that the ruling effectively confirmed that courts and state officials cannot remove a candidate from election contests.
“The voters can take the person out of a race very quickly, but a court shouldn’t be doing that,” he said. “I really do believe that will be a unifying factor.”
He cited the numerous attacks on his eligibility to run for the presidency over the last few months.
“While most states were thrilled to have me, there were some that didn’t, and they didn’t want that for political reasons,” he said.
By mid-February, his attorneys had identified 88 challenges in 45 states, despite President Trump’s early primary victories.
The Supreme Court’s judgment, which determined that states do not have the jurisdiction to exclude federal candidates under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, will effectively end the state-by-state disqualification lawsuits.
The top court said that Congress had ultimate jurisdiction, including the right to draft legislation outlining how Section 3 will be implemented.
