Rocky Mountain Sigh

Even in the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, no one was high enough to think that this Supreme Court would let Colorado kick Donald Trump off the primary ballot. And so it was: Supreme Court restores Trump to ballot. “The court held that states may bar candidates from state office. ‘But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency,’ the court wrote.” It’s notable that Court chose not to disagree with Colorado’s conclusion that Trump incited an insurrection. The overall ruling was unanimous, but there was also a 5-4 ruling that was more extreme. “Five justices—Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh—went further: They declared that only Congress may enforce the insurrection clause against federal candidates. How, exactly?” Slate: The Supreme Court’s ‘Unanimous’ Trump Ballot Ruling Is Actually a 5–4 Disaster. Judges were never going to save America from Trump. Only a jury can do that; specifically the jury whose verdict is due on November 5, 2024.

+ Philip Bump in WaPo (Gift Article): “One would assume that a democratic system predicated on checks and balances would have some process in place to enforce punitive measures when democracy itself was threatened or undermined, but it does not.” The institutions of government aren’t going to protect democracy.

+ Meanwhile … Trump’s Allies Ramp Up Campaign Targeting Voter Rolls, Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty to perjury, and AI’s latest trick is making fake photos of Black Trump supporters. (This is the one time AI’s depiction of weird, small hands actually looks pretty accurate.)