On Monday, the top court ruled that “responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States” – and that the principle applied “especially (to) the Presidency”.
The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, was aimed at preventing supporters of the slaveholding breakaway Confederacy from being elected to Congress or from holding federal positions.
Monday’s ruling renders other similar state challenges to Trump’s primary ballot appearance, including in Maine, effectively moot.
The Supreme Court, which includes three justices nominated by Trump, has historically been loath to get involved in political questions, but it is taking centre stage in this year’s White House race.
Supreme Court immunity case jeopardises Trump trial pre-election
Supreme Court immunity case jeopardises Trump trial pre-election
“And while we’re on the subject – and another thing that will be coming up very soon will be immunity for a president,” Trump said on Monday.
The Supreme Court in April is due to hear Trump’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling rejecting his claim of immunity from prosecution in a criminal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith involving Trump’s actions intended to reverse President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over him.
Trump, the first former US president to be criminally prosecuted, is the front runner for the Republican nomination to challenge Biden, a Democrat, in the November 5 US election.
The court’s decision not to schedule its arguments until the week of April 22 reduces the chances that a trial in the case brought by Smith could be finished before the election. The trial was previously scheduled to have begun this week.
Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate that a former president should not have to face four criminal indictments and civil litigation – as he does in cases that he called politically motivated.
“Presidents have to be given total immunity. They have to be allowed to do their job,” Trump added.
Trump sought to frame his argument for immunity as a defence of the presidency, not of himself. He mentioned operations that he ordered during his 2017-2021 presidency that killed Islamist militants who he called “leading terrorists.”
“And those are big decisions. I don’t want to be prosecuted for it,” Trump said.
“When you make a decision, you don’t want to have your opposing party or opponents – or even somebody that just thinks you’re wrong – bring a criminal suit against you or any kind of suit when you leave office,” Trump added.
It is not the first time Trump has tried to make his case publicly for presidential immunity, but the timing of his remarks on Monday made them seem aimed directly at the Supreme Court’s nine justices.
Why I like Donald Trump, or at least don’t hate him
Why I like Donald Trump, or at least don’t hate him
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on December 1 ruled against Trump’s immunity claim.
“Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States has only one chief executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass,” Chutkan wrote.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on February 6 upheld Chutkan’s ruling, rejecting Trump’s bid for “unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralise the most fundamental check on executive power – the recognition and implementation of election results”.
Among the four criminal cases against Trump, two relate to his efforts to reverse the 2020 election results, one concerns his handling of classified documents after leaving office and one involves hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
During his comments in Florida, Trump lashed out at prosecutors and judges in his various criminal and civil cases.
“It’s a very unfair thing for me,” Trump said.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse