Supreme Court decides to take up Colorado's decision to bar Trump from the state's ballot

The US Supreme Court announced Friday it will review a decision made by the Colorado Supreme Court to bar Trump from the state's ballots.

• The US Supreme Court agreed to hear Donald Trump's appeal to appear on the Colorado ballot.
• The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was ineligible to appear on ballots due to the 14th Amendment.
• The case ultimately sets up the Supreme Court to play a major role in the election.

The US Supreme Court announced Friday that it will review a shocking decision made by the Colorado Supreme Court to bar former President Donald Trump from the state's ballot.

Justices will hear oral arguments on February 8, ensuring the case will be considered just as the GOP primary calendar heats up. Their decision could become the most impactful elections-related matter the high court has handed down since it effectively ended the 2000 presidential election in Bush v. Gore.

The nation's highest court will now have to consider a thorny set of issues, including whether Trump's actions related to the Capitol riot amounted to support of an insurrection. Justices may also consider the extent of a state's power to boot a presidential candidate off the ballot. Justice Neil Gorsuch once considered that power as an appellate court judge in a much less high-profile case.

Trump had previously asked the US Supreme Court to intervene. Before the justices agreed to hear the case, Maine's secretary of state kicked Trump off the primary ballot there. Other states, including Massachusetts, are considering similar efforts or have had voters petition to force a ruling there.

If Colorado's ruling were to stand, it would have sweeping implications for the 2024 presidential election, especially if Trump were to secure the Republican Party's nomination. Meanwhile, more than a dozen other states signaled their support for Trump in a letter to the court submitted Friday.

Trump's three appointees, Justices Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, cemented a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. But their participation does not automatically mean that the high court will side with the former president.

In a sign of the pressure the justices may soon be facing, Alina Habba, one of Trump's attorneys, said that Kavanaugh would "step up" when it came to considering the case, though she stressed it was not because Trump fought strenuously for his confirmation.