Georgetown University law professor and constitutional expert Jonathan Turley told Fox News on Tuesday that he doesn’t see any reason why the U.S. Supreme Court won’t overturn decisions by the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state to remove former President Donald Trump from their respective states’ 2024 ballots.
After co-host Dana Perino played a CNN clip of New York Times columnist Maggie Haberman claiming that Trump’s campaign is concerned that the nation’s highest court may indeed uphold those two rulings, Turley expressed some doubt that would happen.
“The greatest concern, I think, for the Trump campaign is that you have the ultimate incrementalist and institutionalist in Chief Justice John Roberts. Remember, this comes a little over 20 years since Bush v. Gore. Only one of the justices from that decision remains on the court, that is Justice Thomas. A number of the justices, however, participated in that challenge for one of the parties. And so the memory of that is still lingering,” Turley began.
“It was deeply divisive for the court. That was really embodied when Ruth Bader Ginsberg ended her opinion, which normally ends with, “I respectfully dissent,” and removed the word ‘respectfully.’ It really captured how divisive this was, not just for the country but for the court,” he continued.
“I think some justices, like Roberts, would like the cup removed from their lips. I don’t think there is an alternative here, particularly with Maine coming in,” Turley added. “Now, there are some mootness arguments that can be made. It was a very clever way that Colorado structured this decision. If they run out the clock at the Supreme Court, Trump’s name will just remain by default, and Colorado can then avoid review. I hope they won’t do that. I hope they will put an end to this pernicious theory that is deeply destructive to our democratic process.”
WATCH:
Jonathan Turley sees no real alternative for the SCOTUS but to overturn the Colorado and Maine decisions to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot. pic.twitter.com/gCX3gnxTDB
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) January 2, 2024
Turley then predicted that without a quick and decisive smackdown of the two states’ decisions, it would only add more toxicity to what is already expected to be a “toxic” election year.
“This is one of the most important things that we can start our year with, because this is going to be a toxic year, politically. We all know that,” he said. “But we need to remember, that despite our differences, we have more in common than we do in conflict. These Democrats show that they have greater fealty to the Constitution than to their own party. And I think we need to recognize that.
“Colorado and Maine are the outliers. This has been rejected in state after state. The challenges took every 3-point shot in every state, looking for people like [Maine Secretary of State Shenna] Bellows. She said right after 9/11 (January 6?) that it was an insurrection organized effectively by the president. So they had her at hello, and they knew that.
“We need to keep in mind that so many Democrats said we aren’t going to do this,” he noted further.0″ So I think that what we’re looking for in the Supreme Court is not just finality but hopefully unanimity. That they can show, despite their own division, that they remain united by our democratic values. This theory is wrong. It is wrong historically and textually. It is just dead wrong. I hope the court will put this to bed.”
