CNN host Dana Bash argued that even if the Supreme Court were technically correct in their ruling about Trump remaining on ballots, she said it was a dark outcome for America itself.
The U.S. Supreme Court sided unanimously with former President Trump in his challenge to the state of Colorado’s attempt to kick him off the 2024 primary ballot, a decision which will affect the status of efforts in several other states to remove the GOP frontrunner from their respective ballots. The court considered for the first time the meaning and reach of Article 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars former officeholders who "engaged in insurrection" from holding public office again. Challenges have been filed to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot in over 30 states.
The opinion released by the court argued the "patchwork" that would result from different states banning this or that candidate from their ballots would "'sever the direct link that the Framers found so critical between the National Government and the people of the United States' as a whole," the opinion says. Justice Brett Kavanaugh also specifically noted the courts looked back to an 1869 decision which found that an act of Congress was necessary to enforce the 14th Amendment's ban on insurrectionists holding federal office.
"Unfortunately for America, the court isn‘t necessarily wrong that this is the way the Framers wanted it to be," Bash lamented on a CNN panel. "They wanted Congress, the people who are closest to their constituents, to be able to make the rules of the laws."
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However, Bash also argued that this fact "doesn‘t change the fact that because of gerrymandering in the House and all kinds of other issues, they‘re not doing their job on a lot of these big issues."
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said, "I agree it‘s very unlikely, close to impossible that Congress will take action" but noted that now it is a "fair question" to ask members of Congress, "Are you willing to pass legislation that would give us rules for how this works?"
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"It could only be in the future, by the way," he said. "Even if Congress passed a law tomorrow, they‘re not gonna be able to apply it backwards to Trump. So that‘s an important question for Congress moving forward."
