The U.S. Supreme Court will likely reach a split decision — but will reverse Colorado's high court decision keeping former President Donald Trump off the state's primary ballot — retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano said on Newsmax.
"Everybody was even hoping, even people that can't stand Trump, everybody's expecting and hoping for a nine-to-nothing decision so that the court is out of politics and the issue can be resolved by the voters," Napolitano told "National Report."
"It doesn't appear it's going to go that way," he added. "I think the Colorado decision will be reversed, but probably 5-4 or 6-3. That's what I'm hearing so far."
Meanwhile, Napolitano cautioned viewers not to base their judgment on the questions the justices have been asking the attorneys on both sides of the case.
"Judges don't always telegraph how they're going to vote by their questioning," he said. "Sometimes they legitimately have questions of one side and the answer is not going to affect their vote."
Trump is appealing the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling disqualifying him from the GOP ballot in the state, based on Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which prohibits participants in an insurrection from holding U.S. office.
The court's conservative judges asked the lawyers representing Colorado's voters if the insurrection ban can be used without a law being passed by Congress, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh pressing them about a 19th-century decision from a lower court suggesting Congress, not the states, are to act first to enforce a resurrection ban, reports CNN.
Justice Neil Gorsuch also stressed that the 14th Amendment only applies to those serving in office, not running for political office.
The former president's attorneys are arguing that Section 3 can't be enforced by states without congressional legislation and that the presidents are not subject to the provision.
Napolitano noted that several issues are being presented to the Supreme Court, including determining who should decide whose name is on the ballot. Further, he said, the court must determine if the events of Jan. 6 were an insurrection and if Trump aided and abetted the protesters.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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