Republican members of Congress, attorneys general and legislative leaders in 27 states, and three former U.S. attorneys general, including one who served Trump, have backed him in the Colorado case.
Nearly 180 Republican members of Congress, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson, have warned that upholding Colorado's decision to remove Trump from the ballot will lead to similar disqualifications of political opponents.
Last month, Colorado's Supreme Court decided 4-3 that Trump should not be on the Republican primary ballot.
A two-sentence phrase in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment prohibits state and federal office for anybody who pledged to protect the Constitution and subsequently “engaged in insurrection” against it. After Congress granted amnesty to most former confederates in 1872, the clause was forgotten until dozens of lawsuits were filed to keep Trump off the vote this year. Only the Colorado one worked.
Trump is also appealing to state court Maine's Democratic secretary of state, Shenna Bellows,' finding that he cannot stand on the state's ballot due to his Capitol attack participation. The Colorado Supreme Court and Maine secretary of state's findings are pending appeals.
The high court's intervention, which both parties requested, is the most direct in a presidential race since Bush v. Gore in 2000, when a conservative majority ruled for Republican George W. Bush. Only Justice Clarence Thomas remains from that court.
Three of the nine Supreme Court justices were nominated by Trump, but they have frequently ruled against him in 2020 election-related litigation and his efforts to hide Jan. 6 and tax return records from congressional committees.
There are other Trump-related cases before the high court besides whether he may be on the ballot. Last month, special counsel Jack Smith asked the justices to quickly rule on Trump's claims that he is immune from prosecution in a case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. A Washington-based appeals court could bring the issue back before the court. The court is to hear an appeal that may overturn hundreds of Capitol riot charges, including Trump's.