Justice Alito contemplates in thinly veiled hypothetical whether Biden could be taken off ballots for aiding Iran

Justice Samuel Alito hinted Thursday that former President Donald Trump's removal from the ballot in Colorado could spell trouble for President Joe Biden.

Jason Murray, the lawyer for the six voters seeking to preclude their fellow Americans from voting for Trump in the Centennial State, attempted to make the disqualification case Thursday to the U.S. Supreme Court. It did not go well.

Conservative and leftist justices alike poked holes in Murray's arguments concerning the alleged application of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to presidents and Trump's corresponding disqualification.

In addition to demonstrating that Murray's arguments were wanting — arguments endorsed in December by the Democratic appointees on the Colorado Supreme Court — the U.S. Supreme Court highlighted significant implications of a Trump disqualification that may come back to bite Democrats and further destabilize the Union.

Justice Samuel Alito contemplated whether the application of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to presidents might pave the way for states to remove a president such as Joe Biden if accused of giving "aid or comfort to the enemies" of the United States.

"Suppose there is a country that proclaims again and again and again that the United States is its biggest enemy," said Alito. "And suppose that the president of the United Sates, for diplomatic reasons, thinks that it is in the best interest of the United States to provide funds or release funds so that they can be used by that country."

"Could a state determine that that person has given aid and comfort to the enemy and therefore keep that person off of the ballot?" asked Alito.

Iran routinely threatens the United States.

The regime's minister of defense said in November that if the U.S. did not implement a ceasefire in Gaza, it would "be hit hard," reported Reuters.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed in September to take revenge on the Americans who ordered and engaged in the assassination of Iranian terrorist Qassim Suleimani.

Despite such threats, indications that Iran was involved in the Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel, and warnings from Republicans that the Iranian regime could use the money to increase its funding of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi terrorists, the Biden administration released $6 billion in frozen assets to Iran.

Murray answered Alito in the negative, saying, "This court has never interpreted the aid-and-comfort language, which also is present in the Treason Clause. But commentators have suggested — it's been rarely applied because treason prosecutions are so rare — but commentators have suggested that, first of all, that aid and comfort really only applies in the context of a declared war or at least an adversarial relationship where there is in fact a war."

The U.S. executed scores of airstrikes earlier this month on Iran-backed terrorist groups, which might also indicate an adversarial relationship.

Conservative commentator Larry Kudlow argued last week that by sponsoring 166 attacks against U.S. military assets, the regime has effectively declared war against the U.S. 166 times.

Alito was not the only Supreme Court justice who contemplated the ramifications of Trump's disqualification and the potential for Section 3 weaponization by partisans.

Roberts suggested that if Colorado's position is upheld, "surely there will be disqualification proceedings on the other side, and some of those will succeed."

"Some of them will have different standards of proof. Some of them will have different rules about evidence," continued Roberts. "In very quick order, I would expect, although my predictions have never been correct, I would expect that a goodly number of states will say whoever the Democratic candidate is, you're off the ballot, and others for the Republican candidate, you're off the ballot."

"It'll come down to just a handful of states that are going to decide the presidential election," said Chief Justice John Roberts. "That's a pretty daunting consequence."

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