US Supreme Court hears Trump 14th Amendment case: What to know

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday is considering a historic challenge to former President Donald Trump's ability to seek the Republican presidential nomination under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment due to his actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

It will be the first time that Trump's status, or that of any presidential candidate, will be considered under this «insurrection» constitutional clause at the nation's highest court, and it is one of the largest presidential election cases heard by the high court since 2000, when they confirmed the election of President George W. Bush over Al Gore.

The landmark case began in September in Colorado, when a group of six Republican and unaffiliated voters represented by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a challenge against Trump and Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat who oversees the primary election process in the state.

Their lawsuit centered on Section 3, a rarely-invoked, Civil War-era clause that states that someone isn't eligible for future office if, while they were in office, they took an oath to support the Constitution but then «engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or [gave] aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,» unless they are granted amnesty by a two-thirds vote of Congress.

Proponents of this theory claim it applies to Trump because of his actions after he lost the 2020 election but sought to reverse the results, including on the morning of Jan. 6. Trump maintains he did nothing wrong and notes that he was acquitted of insurrection by a majority of Republicans in the Senate in 2021.

Colorado's Supreme Court decided in December that Trump would be barred from their GOP