Former federal prosecutor warns of SCOTUS’ 'very slippery slope' in Trump Colorado decision

As the US Supreme Court prepares to review the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to disqualify Donald Trump from the presidency under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut warns of the danger of the high court taking "politics into account" during its decision, and urges Americans to "beware of pundits and scholars who insist that the judiciary" must do so.

Donald Trump's Colorado case "and the similar Dec. 30 ruling by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows," Aftergut writes, "exemplify precisely why we have a Supreme Court: to deliver the last word on how to interpret the Constitution and apply it. The rule of law is threatened if the court treats constitutional provisions as more a matter of the nation’s politics than of law."

Aftergut notes while "it's true that judges neither can nor should erase the political state of the union from their minds. The danger resides in replacing precedent and sound legal analysis with political concern as the dispositive factor in deciding."

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He writes:

It would be even more toxic for the Supreme Court to distort the words and history of the 14th Amendment to avoid disqualifying Trump because doing so might be 'a recipe for violence,' an argument made by [Yale law professor Samuel] Moyn and echoed by others, including far-right pundit Ben Shapiro. Caving to that kind of intimidation would give Trump’s base what the Supreme Court has condemned as a 'heckler’s veto,' where the heckler may be armed to the teeth.

"The Supreme Court ­risks sliding down just such a slippery slope when it reviews Donald Trump’s Colorado ballot disqualification in what is sure to be a momentous case next month," Aftergut emphasizes, "But whatever the Supreme Court’s decision, its credibility will depend on a legal analysis that withstands critical analysis. In the meantime, let’s stop treating this case as if the legal complexities are of secondary importance to potential political consequences."

The former chief assistant city attorney in San Francisco adds, "political philosopher John Locke wrote in 1689, 'Where law ends, tyranny begins.'"

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Aftergut's full op-ed is here.