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Congressional_______
S Research Service
Disqualification of a Candidate for the
Presidency, Part II: Examining Section 3 of the
Fourteenth Amendment as It Applies to Ballot
Access
Updated January 10, 2024
On February 8, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in Trump v Anderson, a
challenge to the Colorado Supreme Court's decision that former President Donald Trump is disqualified
from future office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment (Section 3). The Supreme Court stated
that the question presented in this case is whether the Colorado Supreme Court erred in ordering President
Trump excluded from the 2024 presidential primary ballot.
Numerous other lawsuits and administrative actions across the country have sought or are seeking to
prevent former President Trump from appearing on state ballots for the upcoming presidential elections.
In particular, the lawsuits, filed in both state and federal courts, are requesting that various secretaries of
state exclude the former President from the states' ballots for the upcoming presidential primary and
general elections. Other challengers are asking state secretaries of state to deny Mr. Trump ballot access
under their respective state laws. Challengers allege that Mr. Trump's efforts to impede the congressional
certification of the 2020 electoral college vote by, among other things, urging his supporters to march to
the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, amount to engag[ing] in insurrection within the meaning of
Section 3. Challengers contend that the former President is therefore disqualified as a candidate for the
presidency.
Many of the lawsuits challenging former President Trump's ability to be placed on state ballots have been
dismissed by courts on jurisdictional grounds without reaching the merits of the constitutional claims. On
December 19, 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court became the first court to hold that former President
Trump is ineligible to appear on the ballot because he is constitutionally disqualified from holding the
office of the President, and the court directed the Colorado secretary of state to exclude the former
President's name from the state's 2024 presidential primary ballot. After the Supreme Court agreed to
review the case, the Colorado secretary of state announced that Mr. Trump would be listed on the primary
ballot but said the Supreme Court's decision may determine whether votes cast for him are ultimately
counted. In a similar case, the secretary of state of Maine determined on December 28, 2023, that Mr.
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