Trump’s on the ballot, but the Supreme Court left key constitutional questions unanswered

CNN —

This much is certain: Former President Donald Trump’s name will appear on the ballot this year as voters in every state choose a president.

But while the unsigned, 13-page opinion the Supreme Court handed down Monday decisively resolved the uncertainty around Trump’s eligibility for a second term, it left unsettled questions that could some day boomerang back to the justices.

Could Democratic lawmakers, for instance, disqualify Trump next January when the electoral votes are counted if he wins the November election? Could a state keep a president seeking a third term, in violation of the 22nd Amendment, off its ballot?

Some degree of uncertainty after the decision was likely unavoidable. The high court was scrambling on an expedited timeline to quickly decide a fraught dispute with an eye toward consensus among justices who are often sharply divided on major political and cultural questions.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett speaks after being nominated to the US Supreme Court by President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on September 26, 2020. - Barrett, if confirmed by the US Senate, will replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on September 18. (Photo by Olivier DOULIERY / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

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In the end, the justices unanimously agreed states can’t boot presidential candidates because of the 14th Amendment’s insurrectionist ban, though it splintered over why that is the case.

“There are a lot of questions that remain,” said Donald Sherman, chief counsel at the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in