Unanimous US Supreme Court decision favours Trump
The US Supreme Court has handed Republican candidate Donald Trump a big victory. Photo: Getty
Donald Trump has welcomed an enormous legal victory after the US Supreme Court ruled against Colorado’s move to strike him off the state’s ballot – a decision that could have nationwide implications.
Judges unanimously overruled Colorado’s decision to declare Trump ineligible to run for president over his role in the Capitol Hill insurrection.
The 9-0 ruling in America’s top court effectively bars states from disqualifying candidates for federal office and means Trump should appear on the Colorado ballot.
It comes just a day before the state holds its primary on ‘Super Tuesday’ – the day when the most states hold party nominating contests.
“BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform immediately after the decision.
Speaking later from his Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump said even people in Colorado “thought that was a terrible thing they did”.
Trump said the US Supreme Court decision would “go a long way toward bringing our country together, which it needs”.
“They worked long, they worked hard and frankly, they worked very quickly on something that will be spoken about 100 years from now and 200 years from now, extremely important.
“Essentially, you cannot take somebody out of a race because an opponent would like to have it that way,” he said.
Trump had appealed the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision on December 19 to kick him off the state’s Republican primary ballot.
The Colorado court had found that the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment disqualified him from again holding public office because of the January 2021 insurrection on the US Capitol.
But the justices found on Tuesday morning (AEDT) that only US Congress can enforce the provision against federal office-holders and candidates.
Though the justices unanimously agreed with the result, the court’s three liberal justices, as well as conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, said the court’s opinion decided more than what was necessary to resolve the case.
“In my judgment, this is not the time to amplify disagreement with stridency,” Barrett wrote.
“The court has settled a politically charged issue in the volatile season of a presidential election. Particularly in this circumstance, writings on the court should turn the national temperature down, not up.”
Sinead O’Connor music ban
But as Trump ramps up his presidential primaries campaign, with a string of state victories, his music playlist is taking another hit.
Sinead O’Connor’s estate has said she would have been “disgusted, hurt, and insulted” at her version of Nothing Compares 2 U being used at Trump’s political rallies.
A joint statement from the late Irish singer’s estate and record label Chrysalis Records demanded the former US president “desist from using her music immediately”.
It said O’Connor, who died last July aged 56, lived by a “fierce moral code” and had previously referred to Trump as a “biblical devil”.
“Throughout her life, it is well known that Sinead O’Connor lived by a fierce moral code defined by honesty, kindness, fairness, and decency towards her fellow human beings,” the statement said.
“It was with outrage therefore that we learned that Donald Trump has been using her iconic performance of Nothing Compares 2 U at his political rallies.
“It is no exaggeration to say that Sinead would have been disgusted, hurt and insulted to have her work misrepresented in this way by someone who she herself referred to as a ‘biblical devil’.
“As the guardians of her legacy, we demand that Donald Trump and his associates desist from using her music immediately.”
O’Connor follows a long list of artists who have demanded Trump desist from using their music for his political campaigns. They include The Smiths’ Johnny Marr, Rihanna, Neil Young, Linkin Park, the late Tom Petty and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler.
-with AAP