Hawley says he will be ‘shocked’ if Supreme Court doesn’t overturn Trump disqualification
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Sen. Josh Hawley on Tuesday said the U.S. Supreme Court needs to quickly decide whether former President Donald Trump should be disqualified from serving as president, as Republicans in Missouri have pushed for political retribution against President Joe Biden.
Hawley, a Missouri Republican who served as a clerk for Chief Justice John Roberts in 2007 and 2008, said he would be “shocked” if the Supreme Court did not overturn rulings by the Colorado Supreme Court and Maine Secretary of State that deemed Trump ineligible for office under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment prevents individuals from holding office if they took an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in an insurrection or rebellion against it.
“How they’ll reason I don’t know,” Hawley said. “Believe me, they will not want to take this case. None of the justices like political controversy, they just don’t. It’s one of the reasons they’re justices. So they will hate doing this but there’s really no alternative here.”
Some Missouri Republicans are already laying the groundwork to remove President Joe Biden from the ballot if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Trump is disqualified. Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said he would “ensure the new legal standard is applied to Biden” and state Sen. Bill Eigel said he would file a bill to remove Biden from the ballot.
Eligibility requirements for federal candidates are determined by the U.S. Constitution, not state law. Both Eigel and Ashcroft are running in the Republican primary for governor.
As the Supreme Court is set to hear the politically charged case, both Hawley and Sen. Eric Schmitt, another Missouri Republican, said the response by Ashcroft and Eigel is indicative of what happens when candidate eligibility is politicized.
“The logical consequence of when you politicize something that shouldn’t be political, people allowed to vote for their preferred candidate, you’re going to see a reaction,” Schmitt, who was previously the Missouri attorney general, said. “And so that’s why I think it’s very important for the Supreme Court to act quickly and hopefully unanimously decide that this is purely partisan politics.”
Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, said the Supreme Court was the appropriate place to handle the eligibility claims surrounding Trump’s candidacy. He said he worried about the politicization of the issue and how it would contribute to the rampant distrust of the country’s institutions.
“I think it’s really important for Americans to have faith in their institutions,” Moran said. “And clearly, there’s plenty of Americans who don’t, but we ought not add fuel to the fire.”
Moran has not endorsed Trump for President — he said he does not endorse candidates. Earlier in the Republican primary, Moran said he liked both Sen. Tim Scott and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Biden has largely avoided weighing in on the cases to kick Trump off the ballot, which were brought by activists, not his campaign. Shortly after the Colorado Supreme Court issued its ruling, Biden told reporters he wouldn’t comment on the case, but said Trump did support an insurrection.
“I think certain things are self-evident,” Biden said. “You saw it all. Now, whether the 14th Amendment applies, I’ll let the court make that decision. But he certainly supported an insurrection. No question about it. None. Zero.”
As Trump has maintained his hold on the Republican Party and is the likely Republican nominee in 2024, several lawmakers have endorsed his campaign and sought to downplay the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Hawley, who was the first U.S. senator to say he would object to the certification of the 2020 election, sparking the debate that was then disrupted by the mob, sells campaign merchandise that features him holding up a fist to protesters that day.
Hawley endorsed Trump last month. He said it was “nuts” that states would try to remove Trump from the ballot, because it removes a choice from people on election day.
“Just beat Trump at the ballot box,” Hawley said. “You don’t like him, beat him.”
