The U.S. Supreme Court moved with urgency to rule that Colorado could not ban former President Donald Trump from the ballot using the Fourteenth Amendment. Here are key excepts from the unanimous 13-page court decision:

“We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 (of the Fourteenth Amendment) with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.”

“Such power over governance, however, does not extend to federal officeholders and candidates. Because federal officers ‘owe their existence and functions to the united voice
of the whole, not of a portion, of the people.’”

“Such a power would flout the principle that ‘the Constitution guarantees the entire independence of the General Government from any control by the respective States.’”

Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment “likewise restricts state autonomy, but through different means. It was designed to help ensure an enduring Union by preventing former Confederates from returning to power in the aftermath of the Civil War.”

“The relevant provision is Section 5, which enables Congress, subject of course to judicial review, to pass ‘appropriate legislation’ to ‘enforce’ the Fourteenth Amendment.”

“All nine Members of the Court agree.”

“The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court is reversed. The mandate shall issue forthwith.”