Fast? Or Slow?

Whatever you think of the merits, it seems impossible to believe that this is the last word—and that the U.S. Supreme Court won’t now *have to* take up and resolve the question of Trump’s eligibility under Section 3.

Today’s ruling forces the issue.

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) December 19, 2023

Will be interesting to see if the Supremes take this up fast…or slow.

An important note on timing: the stay issued by the Colorado Supreme Court will remain in effect if Trump even *asks* #SCOTUS to step in by 1/4.

That means that (1) Trump almost certainly *will* be on the primary ballot in Colorado; & (2) SCOTUS can focus instead on the general. https://t.co/9X5ISk28M0

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) December 19, 2023

Which still means they should decide the matter this term.  And issuing a ruling in June, or July, might well drive Trump bugfuck:

They can’t delay it until next term, not without putting a thumb on the scale. But they don’t have to decide it within a few weeks. Meanwhile…

"He's not playing for the kinds of electoral votes in Colorado," she said. "But it's the precedent it sets and the mindset it signals for voters: Which is for the first time in history he is unfit to appear on a ballot for the presidency."

Trump is hellbent on the House impeaching Biden so Trump is the only twice-impeached President on the November ballot (yeah, I don’t think he’s thought of that. 🤔 ). How does he remove the stain if being the first person in U.S. history to be disqualified under the third clause of the 14th Amendment?

Heh. 😈 

Besides, let it sink in and see how voters feel about it. I don’t mean “leave it to the voters,” I mean court rulings have consequences. Not necessarily the consequences of a tidal wave or an earthquake; but this could be another brick in the wall. I mean, the more Trump loses in court, the more precedents he sets on the way to November (most of them bad, for him), the more it drags down (at least) his candidacy.

Trump supporters might cry foul, that the court cases are politics by another, unfair, means. Funny how that tends to sound reasonable, until the verdict comes down. The more Trump loses in court, the more people who will think the common denominator here is not the courts.

Big things, like felony convictions, matter. But so do small things. The hoped-for knockout blow will probably never come. But the political death by a thousand cuts is not to disparaged.