Trump Hearing Discusses Presidential Eligibility

by Sharon Rondeau

(Feb. 8, 2024) — At approximately 10:30 a.m. EST, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor enumerated the U.S. Constitution’s eligibility requirements for the president to Atty. Jonathan Mitchell, who was arguing in favor of maintaining 2024 leading Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump’s name on the Colorado primary ballot.

Referring to Article II, Section 1, clause 5, Sotomayor said there is a “citizenship” eligibility criterion, later saying a presidential candidate must be “a citizen.” She did not invoke the actual Article II term, “natural born Citizen.”

A candidate could conceivably be removed at the state level if he or she were found not to be “a citizen,” Sotomayor said.

Based on the age requirement of 35, a discussion then ensued as to whether a candidate 34 years of age at the time of the campaign and election could run if he or she would be 35 upon or before inauguration.

Sotomayor opined that in that scenario, if the candidate were challenged at the state level, the case would likely end up before the high court.

A similar situation not raised was that when Joe Biden first ran for the U.S. Senate in 1972, he was 29 years old against the constitutional requirement of 30 years of age. He turned 30 on November 20, 1972 following the election and was sworn in on January 5, 1973.

Editor’s Note: This article originally reported erroneously that the “citizenship” discussion denoted above was initiated by Associate Justice Elena Kagan when, in fact, it was Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The Post & Email apologizes for the error.