Former federal prosecutor and legal analyst Glenn Kirschner said Friday that the U.S. Supreme Court is “likely” to allow Donald Trump to be removed from state ballots ahead of the 2024 election.
Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, faces legal challenges that seek to remove him from the ballot in several states, with two having already barred his name from primary voters’ consideration. The lawsuits argue that Trump is ineligible to run under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars officials who have sworn an oath to the U.S. Constitution from holding office if they engage in insurrection. Trump is facing federal charges in connection to his alleged actions leading up to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, which followed after he addressed his supporters during a rally on Capitol Hill. The former president has been kicked off ballots in Maine and Colorado because of the same constitutional amendment.
Trump has maintained his innocence and said that he did not engage in an insurrection, accusing those filing lawsuits against him of attempting election interference. Meanwhile, the removal of Trump from the primary ballot in Colorado and Maine is now expected to be in the hands of the Supreme Court after the former president appealed both the state’s decisions. The hearings are expected to start in early February.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign and the Supreme Court via email for comment.
In a Friday interview on The Stephanie Miller Show on the Political Voices Network, Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. attorney and frequent Trump critic, discussed how the Supreme Court may rule in the effort to remove Trump from the ballot, adding that he believes the Court’s “likely result” is that the former president is disqualified.
“I have a feeling they will find a way to say, ‘You know what this really is a states’ rights issue. This really is an original construction and textual issue and he’s disqualified.’ I think that is the more likely result,” Kirschner said.
He continued: “What I believe motivates the right wing block of the Supreme Court is self preservation. They want to remain above the executive branch, above the president, and they know if they do anything to facilitate Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office, he’s already announced he’s going to be a dictator day one, and a dictator has absolutely no use for a Supreme Court. So they’re thinking that in the back of their heads if not in their front of their heads.”
During a town hall event hosted by Fox News host Sean Hannity in December, Hannity pressed Trump to pledge that he would never “abuse power as retribution against anybody,” as had been suggested in recent reports, if he’s reelected president. In response, Trump suggested that he would only behave in such a way on the first day of his hypothetical second term. However, Trump later said that the comments were in a “joking manner.”
Kirschner’s comments come after Maine’s highest court refused to weigh in on whether Trump should stay on the ballot in the state, before the Supreme Court decides on the case in Colorado.
Last month, a state Superior Court judge placed the decision on hold until the Supreme Court hears arguments on Colorado’s case on February 8.
