The Nation's Elie Mystal doesn't think it will make a bit of difference, but loves the fact that the Colorado Supreme Court, knowing what was coming next, literally quoted Neil Gorsuch from his time on the federal circuit in Colorado in their decision disqualifying Trump from the ballot.
December 20, 2023

The Nation's Elie Mystal doesn't think it will make a bit of difference, but loves the fact that the Colorado Supreme Court, knowing what was coming next, literally quoted Neil Gorsuch from his time on the federal circuit in Colorado in their decision disqualifying Trump from the ballot.

Here's Mystal on Chris Hayes' show last night:

HAYES: What is your first thought about this heading to SCOTUS?

MYSTAL: Why do you think the conservatives would overturn Colorado? I mean woo, states' rights, brother! Isn't that what conservatives usually say? Look, of course the Supreme Court is going to weigh in and likely overturn the Colorado State Supreme Court's interpretation of Colorado state law, because the conservatives on the Supreme Court, who usually go on and on and on about states' rights, are hypocrites, and they are comfortable being hypocrites. And they will be hypocritical in this situation, and they will overturn Colorado's own state court process, but they shouldn't.

And, when you were talking about writing this decision, and what it must be like for the state court judge, I would like to point out that they were so aware of what SCOTUS was about to do in terms of bending over backwards, that they literally quote Neil Gorsuch, Neil Gorsuch when he was sitting on a federal circuit in Colorado, they quote Gorsuch for the opinion that Colorado gets to decide its own rules about who is qualified or not on the ballot in Colorado.

As to Gorsuch's opinion that they quote in the thing, so if Gorsuch had any ideological consistency he would likely uphold the Colorado state court opinion, but what we're about to see is just how, again, hypocritical and unserious the Supreme Court is when it comes to protecting their partisan sugar daddies like Donald Trump.

I agree they'll all twist themselves in knots to find a way to ignore any prior opinions. Here's more on the language in the Colorado ruling:

Colorado's top court appears to be already looking for sympathetic ears on the US Supreme Court to uphold its decision that would boot former President Donald Trump off of the 2024 ballot in the state.

Tucked into the Colorado state court's 4-3 ruling is a reference to Justice Neil Gorsuch, specifically a ruling Gorsuch issued as a then circuit court of appeals judge in a 2012 case concerning a long-shot presidential candidate's citizenship status.

The Colorado Supreme Court cited Gorsuch's ruling as cover for its unprecedented decision to kick Trump off a primary ballot based on the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.

"As then-Judge Gorsuch recognized in Hassan, it is 'a state's legitimate interest in protecting the integrity and practical functioning of the political process' that 'permits it to exclude from the ballot candidates who are constitutionally prohibited from assuming office,'" the state opinion reads.

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