Tuesday Briefing

Donald Trump said he was pleased with the court’s decision.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

The Supreme Court ruled that Trump can stay on ballots

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that states cannot bar Donald Trump from running for another term, rejecting a challenge from Colorado that threatened to remove the former president from ballots around the nation.

The decision, while not a surprise, is the most important ruling concerning a presidential election since George W. Bush prevailed in Bush v. Gore in 2000.

The case was based on a constitutional provision, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, that prohibits insurrectionists from holding office. All the justices’ opinions focused on legal issues without taking a position on whether Trump had committed insurrection.

All nine justices said that states could not bar candidates from the presidency based on the provision, while five conservative justices ruled that Congress must act to give Section 3 force. Here are highlights from the ruling.

“I was very honored by a 9-to-nothing vote,” Trump said in an interview on a conservative radio show.

What’s next: The decision comes during a pivotal week for the presidential race: Today is Super Tuesday, when many states hold their presidential primaries, and on Thursday President Biden is scheduled to deliver the State of the Union address. In the coming months, the Supreme Court may rule on a host of other legal issues related to Trump.