Donald Trump's eligibility to run in the 2024 U.S. presidential election was the subject of dispute due to his involvement in the January 6 Capitol attack under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which disqualifies insurrectionists against the United States from holding office if they have previously taken an oath to support the constitution. Courts or officials in three states—Colorado, Maine, and Illinois—ruled that Trump was barred from presidential ballots. However, the Supreme Court in Trump v. Anderson (2024) reversed the ruling in Colorado on the basis that state governments did not have the authority to enforce Section 3 against federal elected officials.
In December 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court in Anderson v. Griswold ruled that Trump had engaged in insurrection and was ineligible to hold the office of President, and ordered that he be removed from the state's primary election ballots as a result. Later that same month, Maine secretary of state Shenna Bellows also ruled that Trump engaged in insurrection and was therefore ineligible to be on the state's primary election ballot. An Illinois judge ruled Trump was ineligible for ballot access in the state in February 2024. All three states had their decisions unanimously reversed by the United States Supreme Court. Previously, the Minnesota Supreme Court and the Michigan Court of Appeals both ruled that presidential eligibility cannot be applied by their state courts to primary elections, but did not rule on the issues for a general election. By January 2024, formal challenges to Trump's eligibility had been filed in at least 34 states.
On January 5, 2024, the Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari for Trump's appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling in Anderson v. Griswold and heard oral arguments on February 8. On March 4, 2024, the Supreme Court issued a ruling unanimously reversing the Colorado Supreme Court decision, ruling that states had no authority to remove Trump from their ballots and that only Congress has the ability to enforce Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Donald Trump went on to receive the Republican nomination and win the 2024 presidential election.
Background In the aftermath of the American Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment was enacted. Section 3 of the amendment prohibits anyone from holding public office if they had previously sworn an oath to support the Constitution, but then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the [United States], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof." The full text of this section reads:
Trump's role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack is cited by opponents as a reason for his disqualification from seeking public office. A state may also make a determination that Trump is disqualified under Section 3 from appearing on that state's ballot. Trump could appeal in court any disqualification by Congress or by a state. In addition to state or federal legislative action, a court action could be brought against Trump seeking his disqualification under Section 3. The 14th Amendment itself provides a path for Congress to allow such a candidate to run, but this would require a vote of two-thirds of each House to remove such disability.
Second Trump impeachment On January 10, 2021, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, formally requested Representatives' input as to whether to pursue Section 3 disqualification of outgoing President Donald Trump because of his role in the January 6 Capitol attack. On January 13, 2021, a majority of the House of Representatives (232–197) voted to impeach Trump for "incitement of insurrection". In the Senate impeachment trial, a majority of the Senate (57–43) voted on February 13, 2021, that he was guilty, but this fell short of the two-thirds supermajority required to convict him.
Subsequent congressional action
On July 1, 2021, the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol was formed. Over a year and a half, the committee interviewed more than a thousand people, reviewed more than a million documents, and held public hearings. On August 5, 2021, in a bill passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden that awarded four Congressional Gold Medals to the United States Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, and two U.S. Capitol Police officers who protected the United States Capitol during the January 6 attack, a finding listed in its first section declared that "On January 6, 2021, a mob of insurrectionists forced its way into the U.S. Capitol building and congressional office buildings and engaged in acts of vandalism, looting, and violently attacked Capitol Police officers.", The bill passed overwhelmingly, including the support of 188 House Republicans, with only 21 voting against. On December 15, 2022, House Democrats introduced a bill finding that Trump was ineligible to hold the office of the Presidency under Section 3,, H.R. 9578, 117th Cong. (December 15, 2022). See here for more information. but it did not advance. On December 22, the House Select January 6 Committee published an 845-page final report. The final report states that the 17 central findings of the committee were as follows: Beginning election night and continuing through January 6 and thereafter, Donald Trump purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud related to the 2020 Presidential election in order to aid his effort to overturn the election and for purposes of soliciting contributions. These false claims provoked his supporters to violence on January 6. Knowing that he and his supporters had lost dozens of election lawsuits, and despite his own senior advisors refuting his election fraud claims and urging him to concede his election loss, Donald Trump refused to accept the lawful result of the 2020 election. Rather than honor his constitutional obligation [under Article II, Section III] to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," President Trump instead plotted to overturn the election outcome. Despite knowing that such an action would be illegal, and that no State had or would submit an altered electoral slate, Donald Trump corruptly pressured Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes during Congress's joint session on January 6. Donald Trump sought to corrupt the U.S. Department of Justice by attempting to enlist department officials to make purposely false statements and thereby aid his effort to overturn the Presidential election. After that effort failed, Donald Trump offered the position of Acting Attorney General to Jeff Clark knowing that Clark intended to disseminate false information aimed at overturning the election. Without any evidentiary basis and contrary to State and Federal law, Donald Trump unlawfully pressured State officials and legislators to change the results of the election in their States. Donald Trump oversaw an effort to obtain and transmit false electoral certificates to Congress and the National Archives. Donald Trump pressured Members of Congress to object to valid slates of electors from several States. Donald Trump purposely verified false information filed in Federal court. Based on false allegations that the election was stolen, Donald Trump summoned tens of thousands of supporters to Washington for January 6. Although these supporters were angry and some were armed, Donald Trump instructed them to march to the Capitol on January 6 to "take back" their country. Knowing that a violent attack on the Capitol was underway and knowing that his words would incite further violence, Donald Trump purposely sent a social media message publicly condemning Vice President Pence at 2:24 p.m. on January 6. Knowing that violence was underway at the Capitol, and despite his duty to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed, Donald Trump refused repeated requests over a multiple hour period that he instruct his violent supporters to disperse and leave the Capitol, and instead watched the violent attack unfold on television. This failure to act perpetuated the violence at the Capitol and obstructed Congress's proceeding to count electoral votes. Each of these actions by Donald Trump was taken in support of a multi-part conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 Presidential election. The intelligence community and law enforcement agencies did successfully detect the planning for potential violence on January 6, including planning specifically by the Proud Boys and Oath Keeper militia groups who ultimately led the attack on the Capitol. As January 6 approached, the intelligence specifically identified the potential for violence at the U.S. Capitol. This intelligence was shared within the executive branch, including with the Secret Service and the President's National Security Council. Intelligence gathered in advance of January 6 did not support a conclusion that Antifa or other left-wing groups would likely engage in a violent counter-demonstration, or attack Trump supporters on January 6. Indeed, intelligence from January 5 indicated that some left-wing groups were instructing their members to "stay at home" and not attend on January 6. Ultimately, none of these groups was involved to any material extent with the attack on the Capitol on January 6. Neither the intelligence community nor law enforcement obtained intelligence in advance of January 6 on the full extent of the ongoing planning by President Trump, John Eastman, Rudolph Giuliani and their associates to overturn the certified election results. Such agencies apparently did not (and potentially could not) anticipate the provocation President Trump would offer the crowd in his Ellipse speech, that President Trump would "spontaneously" instruct the crowd to march to the Capitol, that President Trump would exacerbate the violent riot by sending his 2:24 p.m. tweet condemning Vice President Pence, or the full scale of the violence and lawlessness that would ensue. Nor did law enforcement anticipate that President Trump would refuse to direct his supporters to leave the Capitol once violence began. No intelligence community advance analysis predicted exactly how President Trump would behave; no such analysis recognized the full scale and extent of the threat to the Capitol on January 6. Hundreds of Capitol and DC Metropolitan police officers performed their duties bravely on January 6, and America owes those individuals immense gratitude for their courage in the defense of Congress and our Constitution. Without their bravery, January 6 would have been far worse. Although certain members of the Capitol Police leadership regarded their approach to January 6 as "all hands on deck", the Capitol Police leadership did not have sufficient assets in place to address the violent and lawless crowd. Capitol Police leadership did not anticipate the scale of the violence that would ensue after President Trump instructed tens of thousands of his supporters in the Ellipse crowd to march to the Capitol, and then tweeted at 2:24 p.m. Although Chief Steven Sund raised the idea of National Guard support, the Capitol Police Board did not request Guard assistance prior to January 6. The Metropolitan Police took an even more proactive approach to January 6, and deployed roughly 800 officers, including responding to the emergency calls for help at the Capitol. Rioters still managed to break their line in certain locations, when the crowd surged forward in the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump's 2:24 p.m. tweet. The Department of Justice readied a group of Federal agents at Quantico and in the District of Columbia, anticipating that January 6 could become violent, and then deployed those agents once it became clear that police at the Capitol were overwhelmed. Agents from the Department of Homeland Security were also deployed to assist.