Whether in 2000 or 2024, There’s No Upside for Supreme Court in Deciding Elections

WASHINGTON—For the second time this century, the U.S. Supreme Court finds itself playing perhaps its least comfortable role: ruling on a presidential election. 

Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, was barred from the Colorado ballot after state courts found he engaged in a failed insurrection following his 2020 defeat. He has promised an appeal that may force the nine justices to decide the meaning of 14th Amendment provisions originally adopted to keep ex-Confederates from taking power in the government they once sought to violently overthrow.