The US Supreme Court has struck down efforts by individual states to bar Donald Trump from running as a presidential candidate for November’s election.
Justices unanimously overruled Colorado’s decision to disqualify Trump from the Republican primary ballot.
Judges in the state had cited an anti-insurrection clause in the US Constitution to ban Trump; similar attempts have been made in Illinois and Maine.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bans anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from office.
The Colorado ruling pointed to Trump’s actions around the 6 January attack on the Capitol by his supporters.
But in their decision announced on Monday morning, justices ruled that only Congress has the power to enforce the provision, not states.
Republican voters in Colorado and more than a dozen other states will go to the polls on Tuesday to pick the party’s presidential nominee.
BBC