Supreme Court allows insurrectionists on the ballot. What a shame


To the editor: The most interesting takeaway from the U.S. Supreme Court's decision allowing former President Trump to remain on the 2024 ballot is not that states lack the power to remove federal candidates from the ballot.

Rather, the court did not even attempt to challenge in any way the factual conclusion that Trump is an oath-breaking insurrectionist.

Just think about it for a moment. Our Supreme Court is apparently unconcerned by the idea that an oath-breaking insurrectionist is the standard bearer of the Republican Party.

So, let history record March 4, 2024 as the day the Supreme Court confirmed the public's worst suspicions that it is as partisan, cowardly, and cowardly as the rest of the Republican Party. By allowing an admitted insurrectionist to run for president, the justices broke their own oath to protect and defend our Constitution.

Drew Pomerance, Woodland Hills

..

To the editor: We live in a nation that is still defined by the fundamental legal principle that you are innocent until proven guilty. Trump was never found guilty of anything related to the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol despite being impeached.

Still, some Democrats wanted to remove his name from the ballot and thus eliminate Americans' freedom of choice in voting. This is deeply embarrassing.

These politically motivated actions, which have further alienated Americans from our government and divided us further, only make Trump more popular as a political outsider as we approach the November election.

I am glad that the Supreme Court has resolved this issue once and for all.

Michael Pravica, Henderson, Nevada.

..

To the editor: The Supreme Court “acted with unusual speed” to remove the 14th Amendment barrier to insurrectional Trump in time for Super Tuesday.

On the other hand, he refused to act in a timely manner on his claims of absolute immunity, delaying the actual trial over the insurrection, possibly until after the November election.

Thus, the Roberts court (perhaps more accurately called “the Trump court,” although John G. Roberts Jr. is the chief justice) has confirmed its status as a group of “partisan tricksters,” to use the memorable phrase from Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

Scott McKenzie, La Cañada Flintridge

..

To the editor: On December 20, 2023, UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky wrote in The Times that the Colorado Supreme Court was constitutionally correct in excluding Trump from that state's ballot.

All nine justices of the United States Supreme Court disagreed with Chemerinsky. The three liberal justices followed the law, so it appears that Chemerinsky is mixing his politics with his legal interpretations.

David Waldowski, Laguna Woods

scroll to top