The Supreme Court has become a major player in the 2024 election, and that isn’t sitting right with most Americans.
The High Court docket will hear oral arguments on Thursday on whether former President Donald Trump, once again the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president, can be excluded from the ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
As the Supreme Court’s blog points out, although the question arises from a case from Colorado, the impact of the ruling could be far-reaching. Maine’s secretary of state ruled in December that Trump should be taken off the primary ballot there, and challenges to Trump’s eligibility are currently pending in 11 other states. There was a challenge in Massachusetts to keep him off the ballot, but it was denied by the Supreme Judicial Court last week.
What the states pushing to exclude Trump failed to realize, however, is that the move would not only rile voters who resent having their choice made for them, but that the American people wouldn’t be happy with the buck being passed to the Supreme Court.
A CNN poll released Monday found a majority saying they don’t have much confidence in the Supreme Court to make the “right decisions” on legal cases related to the election, as The Hill reported.
Asked how much they trust the Supreme Court on the matter, 58% said either “not at all” or “just some,” at 23% and 35%, respectively. Only 11% said they trusted the Supreme Court “a great deal,” while 31% said “a moderate amount.”
Among Democrats, 63% had either no trust at all, at 27%, or just some trust — 36% — compared to Republicans, 48% of whom said they had either no trust, 17%, in the court or just some trust — 31%. Independents held similar views to Democrats.
Voters have faith in their ability to choose a president, but they don’t trust the Supreme Court to gatekeep the ballot.
We doubt that such attempts to keep Trump off the ballot would have gone forward had he not had such a hold on the Republican nomination and voters, or if President Biden were not hemorrhaging confidence in his ability to lead the country.
Inflation and the border crisis help define the two, and one of them is failing on both issues.
For many, particularly those struggling with the cost of food or watching their states funnel cash to migrants while cutting programs, those issues are top of mind, not the 14th Amendment or Jan. 6, 2021.
That is infuriating to Democrats, thus the piecemeal attempts to take Trump out of the equation. However, that won’t make Trump supporters hate the former president as much as the Democrats do, and it won’t make them give Biden a pass despite his blunders.
What it does do is all but guarantee a chaotic election process, further polarization across the country, and, as the CNN poll indicates, a greater lack of trust in our democratic institutions. It also serves up claims of a rigged election to Trump and his supporters on a silver platter.
Ballot blockers are determined to keep Trump out of the White House, his supporters are determined to get him back. The pending Supreme Court decision will fuel both.
