The Scene at Trump’s Supreme Court Case Is Creepily Cultlike
Steps away from where a Donald Trump–backed mob attempted to thwart the 2020 presidential election results, in Washington, D.C., fans of the former president set up chairs and stood by in anticipation of a U.S. Supreme Court hearing that would decide whether Colorado could ban Trump from appearing on the state’s presidential primary ticket.
Crowds grew from a couple dozen people to more than 100 overnight, with protesters braving frigid temperatures in order to show up, even though Trump himself was not expected to make an appearance.
Some mega pro-Trump fans drove from hundreds of miles away in order to attend, like Aranda Maher and her husband, who “left their children with grandparents and drove about 350 miles to Washington,” reported The New York Times.
“It was kind of spur of the moment,” Maher, 24, told the outlet, dressed in Ugg boots and pajamas.
Others made the trek more deliberately.
“My hope is that the Supreme Court has the courage to read the Constitution as it’s written, and not torture the text in defense of Trump,” Richard Zipper, a retired software engineer from Crofton, Maryland, told Politico.
People are already lining up outside the Supreme Court a day before arguments in the Trump ballot case.
— Bloomberg Law (@BLaw) February 7, 2024
The first two people in line, a pair of Trump supporters, have been waiting since 4 pm on Tuesday – meaning they'll have waited for 42 hours by the time the arguments begin. pic.twitter.com/7JEIGQmMAm
Historic day at the Supreme Court in Washington. This is the line of people who slept outside for the chance to be inside the high court for the oral arguments involving Mr. Trump’s eligibility to be on the ballot. Section 3 of the 14th amendment in the spotlight today. pic.twitter.com/U8tzWpRpOk
— Joe St. George (@JoeStGeorge) February 8, 2024
Counterprotesters also made their mark outside the halls of the country’s highest judiciary, insisting that Trump be held accountable for his role in the January 6 riot.
“We’d like to see the Supreme Court uphold justice and read the law,” Jennifer Hobbs, a lawyer who drove down from New York, told Politico.
Trump, meanwhile, appeared optimistic about the proceedings, in an appearance outside his Florida estate.
“I thought the presentation today was a very good one. I think it was well received—I hope it was well received,” Trump told a gaggle of reporters outside Mar-a-Lago.
In December, Colorado’s Supreme Court issued a historic ruling removing Trump from the ballot on the basis that Trump had been involved in an “insurrection,” thereby violating the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment.