In a unanimous ruling, the US Supreme Court ended attempts
by certain states to bar former President Donald Trump from
the ballot under the Insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment
to
the Constitution, using the January 6th attack as a basis.
New Hampshire GOP Chairman Chris Edgar,
who helped fight an effort here in New Hampshire to
disqualify Trump in federal court,
is applauding the decision and says he expects the local
lawsuit to be tossed out.
It's all overcome by this decision,
and so we can now focus on the ballot box
and hey,
let the people decide who they want as president,
not not a lawsuit. Local Democratic leaders say they expected
this ruling and agree that voters should be the ones
who decide elections.
Important that the people get the opportunity to speak.
They rejected Donald Trump both in 2016 and in 2020,
and they're going to do it again in 2024.
There are undercurrents of dissent within the unanimous decision,
which says only Congress has the power to enforce the
insurrection clause.
Liberal justices blasted this interpretation of the 14th Amendment,
saying it quote attempts to insulate all alleged insurrectionists from
future challenges to holding federal office.
It made national news last year when New Hampshire's Secretary
of State,
David Scanlon made his own decision that he did not
believe he had the legal authority to remove Trump's name
from the ballot.
He says the states where that did happen invited uncertainty
and distrust into the electoral process.
Obviously that decision ended up in the courts.
And but but, you know,
chaos is the result, and and anger in some voters
is the result.
So it was important that the Supreme Court made this
decision in Concord.
Adam Sexton, WMUR News 9.