The Supreme Court seemed skeptical on Thursday of efforts to kick former President Trump off the 2024 ballot, reports the Associated Press and other court observers. All justices except Sonia Sotomayor suggested that they were open to at least some of the arguments made by Jonathan Mitchell, Trump’s lawyer. Democrats don’t want to talk about the case. The court will decide whether Trump is eligible to be president again, or whether his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack bars him from office. Republicans have rallied behind the former president, arguing that he should not be disqualified for a whole litany of reasons, Democrats have been reluctant to weigh in, Politico reports. Not a single sitting Democratic member of Congress, governor, state attorney general or secretary of state filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court advocating for Trump to be removed.
There was no organized effort by Democrats on Capitol Hill to weigh in on the case. Members said they felt that the case had merit, but met the lack of party response with a shrug. Democrats’ attempts to stay out of the 14th Amendment issue may be intended to avoid the appearance that they’re politicizing the courts. The potential disqualification of a leading presidential candidate is inherently a political and legal question, and Democrats’ comparative silence has been asymmetrical, with Republicans eager to jump into the fray. “The courts will look at it on its merits and make a decision. I don’t think Democrats weighing in would really change the outcome,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who co-chaired the Jan. 6 committee. He added that while there are “legitimate issues with Trump being on the ballot” based on that investigation, he would “defer that decision to individual states.” The Department of Justice has pointedly not weighed in on the case, Republicans flooded the court with briefs in support of Trump,