We bring you this excerpt from a centrist source because it breaks down the legal questions being argued at the Supreme Court today in the case of  whether Colorado can remove Pres. Trump from the ballot. Let’s join together in seeking God for His will to be done and for an accurate constitutional ruling to be set forth in this case. You can also read an analysis by IFA board member Cynthia Dunbar HERE.

From SCOTUSblog. . . . Although the question comes to the court in a case from Colorado, the impact of the court’s ruling could be much more far-reaching. Maine’s secretary of state ruled in December that Trump should be taken off the primary ballot there, and challenges to Trump’s eligibility are currently pending in 11 other states. . . .

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History behind the case

The dispute hinges on the interpretation of a relatively obscure provision of the Constitution: Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which (as relevant in this case) provides that no one “shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State,” if that person had previously sworn, “as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States” to support the U.S. Constitution but then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the federal government.

Enacted in the wake of the Civil War, Section 3 was intended to disqualify individuals who had served in the federal (or state) government before the Civil War and had sworn to uphold the Constitution but then supported the Confederacy. The bar on service can only be overcome by a two-thirds vote of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. . . .

PRAYER POINT: The U.S. Constitution is a gift, rooted in biblical principles. Let’s thank God for the “blessings of liberty, to ourselves and our posterity.” (Quote from the Preamble to the Constitution)

The case now before the Supreme Court was the first one to hold that Trump was disqualified from appearing on the ballot in 2024. . . .

After a five-day trial, a Colorado trial court agreed that Trump engaged in insurrection but concluded that Section 3 does not apply to the president. Specifically, it concluded, the presidency is not an “office … under the United States,” and the president is not an “officer of the United States.”

In a ruling on Dec. 19, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump is ineligible to be president under Section 3, and it barred the Colorado secretary of state, Jena Griswold, from listing him on the primary ballot. But the state supreme court put its ruling on hold to give the Supreme Court time to weigh in, leaving Trump on the ballot for now.

Both Trump and the Colorado Republican Party came to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to review the state supreme court’s ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court granted Trump’s petition for review on Jan. 5 and scheduled oral argument for Feb. 8 – a time when the justices would otherwise be in the middle of their winter recess. . . .

PRAYER POINT: The justices have come out of winter recess to hear this case on an expedited schedule. Pray for them by name: Chief Justice Roberts, Associate Justices Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, Jackson.

“Officer of the United States”

Trump’s first, and main, argument is that Section 3 does not apply to him because the president is not an “officer of the United States.” In other provisions of the Constitution where the phrase “officer of the United States” appears, Trump notes, it does not apply to the president – for example, the clause that requires the president to “Commission all the Officers of the United States” and the impeachment clause, which lists the president and vice president separately from “civil Officers of the United States.” Moreover, Trump adds, the Supreme Court in 2010 indicated that the phrase applies only to federal officials who are appointed; it does not extend to elected officials like the president.

The voters dismiss this argument, countering that the president has been called the “chief executive officer of the United States” since long before the 14th Amendment was drafted. As with the phrase “office under the United States,” they say, Section 3 simply uses the phrase “of the United States” to distinguish between federal offices, such as the presidency, and state officers.

The voters also discount Trump’s reliance on other provisions of the Constitution. They note that although the appointments clause requires the president to appoint some “officers of the United States,” it also indicates that the Constitution provides for the appointment of other “officers of the United States” – including the president and vice president – by the electoral college. And the impeachment clause, they reason, provides for the impeachment of the president and vice president separately from “all civil Officers of the United States” because (unlike other officials) the president and vice president play both civil and military roles. . . .

PRAYER POINT: Pray that the justices will apply the law correctly to this case, that they would have the wisdom of Solomon on the issues set forth.

Whether Trump “engaged in insurrection”

Although Trump had contended in an earlier brief that Jan. 6 was not an “insurrection,” he now argues only that Section 3 does not apply to him because he himself did not “engage in” insurrection. Trump never told his supporters to enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, he says, nor did he lead or encourage any of the violence that occurred there that day. To the contrary, he emphasizes, in his remarks at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, he told the crowd to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” and “support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement.”

Trump adds that even if he didn’t respond when rioters entered the Capitol, that is not, by itself, “engaging” in insurrection. Moreover, he notes, although he has been the subject of several investigations since 2021, he has never been charged with insurrection. . . .

PRAYER POINT: Pray that the ruling of the justices will bring forth the purposes of God in our nation.

Whether Section 3 operates automatically or instead requires Congress to pass legislation

Trump contends that only Congress can enforce Section 3, by passing laws to do so. Nothing in Section 3 provides any guidance for courts and election officials to use to determine whether someone “engaged in insurrection” and therefore is not eligible to run for office, he observes. If Section 3 were self-executing, however, Trump warns, it would create the risk that courts could make partisan determinations about whether someone is disqualified under Section 3.

Trump points to Griffin’s Case, an 1869 decision by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, sitting on a lower court. Chase declined to vacate the conviction of a Virginia man who argued that the judge in his case was a secessionist. Instead, Chase ruled, Section 3 is not self-executing, and it can only be enforced through laws passed by Congress.

Indeed, Trump writes, Congress did enact legislation to enforce Section 3: the Enforcement Act of 1870, which gave the Department of Justice the power to bring lawsuits seeking to disqualify ineligible officials. But that law was repealed in the 1940s, Trump tells the justices.

The voters reject the argument that Section 3 can only be enforced through laws passed by Congress as “beside the point.” They are suing under Colorado state law, they write, seeking to have the Colorado secretary of state enforce federal constitutional requirements.

But Section 3 works independently, they continue, because it specifically bars anyone who is disqualified from holding public office. . . .

PRAYER POINT: Interpretation of the constitutional section in question involves precedents from the Civil War. Here is a prayer from President Abraham Lincoln that would be good to pray today:

Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for our heritage;

We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will.

Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners.

Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way.

Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people, the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues.

Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth.

In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At what stage of the process does Section 3 apply?

Trump maintains that the text of Section 3 only bars individuals from holding office; it does not prohibit them from appearing on the ballot or winning election. States like Colorado cannot impose their own qualifications for the presidency, he contends, especially when Congress could vote to allow a candidate who might otherwise be ineligible under Section 3 to serve.

The voters argue that the Constitution gives state legislatures near complete power to decide how to select presidential electors, including the power to allow only eligible candidates to appear on the ballot. They point to the fact that during this election cycle, seven states have already barred media personality Cenk Ugyur, who was born in Turkey, from their primary ballots because he is ineligible to be president. . . .

PRAYER POINT: This is only one of many cases brought against other candidates in other races who participated in the events of Jan. 6 (you can read more about it in the full article). Let’s pray for a godly resolution to all the cases.

The electors clause and Colorado’s election code

In addition to being inconsistent with the text of Section 3, Trump argues, the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling also violates the Constitution’s electors clause, which requires states to appoint presidential electors “in such Manner as the Legislature therefore may direct,” because state election laws do not give state courts the power to order the Colorado secretary of state to remove a candidate from the presidential primary ballot.

Under Colorado’s election code, Trump reasons, state courts can only intervene in ballot disputes when the Colorado secretary of state is about to breach a duty or commit a wrongful act. But there is no wrongful act here, he suggests, because he is eligible to appear on the ballot.

Instead, Trump notes, the state court relied on a provision of Colorado law that gives political parties with qualified candidates the right to participate in primary elections, on the theory that the secretary of state would violate state law if she didn’t remove disqualified presidential candidates from the primary ballot. Because that “is not remotely what the law says,” Trump argues, the Colorado Supreme Court was “arrogating to themselves the power vested in state legislatures to regulate federal elections,” and the justices should reverse.

The voters counter that Trump did not make this argument in the state courts and therefore has lost the right to raise it now. But in any event, they continue, the Supreme Court can only intervene if the state court’s interpretation of state law “unconstitutionally intrude[d] upon the role specifically reserved to state legislatures.” That is not the case here, they argue, because the Colorado Supreme Court “correctly concluded it would be a ‘wrongful act’ to certify on the ballot a candidate who is constitutionally ineligible to hold office.” . . . 

PRAYER POINT: Pray for justice and the blessings of justice in our nation.

Before the Supreme Court granted review, the challengers had asked the justices to issue their opinion in the case by Feb. 11, one day before ballots for the presidential primary are mailed out in Colorado. With oral arguments scheduled for Feb. 8, the justices are unlikely to meet the Feb. 11 deadline. Super Tuesday – the day when Colorado and 14 other states, along with American Samoa, will hold their primaries – is March 5, just under one month after the oral argument.

What are your prayer points? Please share them in the comments.

(Excerpt from ScotusBlog.)