The United States Supreme Court ruled in a 9 – 0 decision Monday that the state of Colorado had no legal grounds to remove Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from its primary election ballot, overturning the Colorado State Supreme Court’s earlier ruling.

Colorado contends that the former president engaged in the insurrection that took place on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021, and therefore according to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, also known as “the insurrection clause,” is ineligible “to hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or any other state.”

The Colorado District Court “after a five-day trial found that former President Trump had “engaged in insurrection” but held that the principal meaning behind the usage of the terminology “office” in the amendment did not explicitly state that the office in question signified “the Presidency,” which meant that Trump’s name could remain on the ballot.

The Colorado Supreme Court reversed the District Court decision and ordered the former president’s name removed from the ballot. The state Supreme Court’s decision was stayed pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the matter.

While SCOTUS deliberated on the constitutionality of the removal of a potential presidential candidate name from a public election, Maine removed Trump from its primary ballot. In Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Oregon, unsuccessful efforts were made to also remove the 91-times indicted Republican from the primary ballot.

The SCOTUS ruling is a win for Trump and his allies. SCOTUS noted in its 20-page decision that any “determination” of whom should be disqualified from holding political office would be through action of the U.S. Congress. “The Constitution empowers Congress to prescribe how those determinations should be made,” the SCOTUS order reads, the relevant provision is Section 5, which enables Congress…to pass appropriate legislation to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment.”

In a nutshell, Congress would have to draft and pass legislation that would effectively bar potential political candidates who have participated in treasonous activities or insurrections from holding elected office, including the highest office in the land, the White House. “We conclude,” the SCOTUS ruling continues, “that states may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold public office. But states have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.”

The Fourteenth Amendment Section 3 was created post-Civil War to prevent the rebels of the Confederacy from ever regaining a foothold in Congress and possibly the White House. Former Confederate politicians would not be able to regain access to the federal political power structure, however, they would indeed be a force within their own states as history has shown. Southern states were notorious for electing supporters and officials of the Confederacy to various political offices locally and statewide, particularly after the fall of Reconstruction.

“The Secret Nine” who instigated the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 in North Carolina, which saw the massacre of more than 300 Black Wilmington citizens, all found themselves in key local, state, and federal political offices. Four of nine would go on to hold lengthy seats as members of the U.S. Congress and the Senate. The Fourteenth Amendment would not be applied in their cases.

Perhaps if there was a definitive demarcation of Trump as an insurrectionist, there would not be a question as to whether he should appear on any ballot to be elected to political office. This severe oversight can be laid straight at the feet of retiring Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell announced last week that he was stepping down as minority leader and it comes as no surprise given that in recent months the 82year-old senator from Kentucky has found himself lagging behind House and Senate Republicans who support Donald Trump and his far-right, radical policies. Stating that he will complete his term in 2027, McConnell said “it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter.”

As he moves on, McConnell gets to watch the political circus he endorsed to continue with Trump as the ringleader. It is because of McConnell’s staunch refusal to vote to impeach Trump, not once, but twice, that the former president is riding the backs of Republicans to the November ballot box. McConnell was instrumental in appeasing, finessing, and acquiescing to Trump during his presidency, and it was only after Jan. 6 occurred that McConnell publicly broke away from the cult of MAGA and Trump.

His stepping down from the role of minority whip in the Senate does not earn him kudos for a job well done in terms of what he has done that has changed the overall arc of democracy and the protection of American freedoms in this country. The U.S. Supreme Court, which is comprised of a conservative-leaning majority, comes courtesy of McConnell, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade is symbolic of the legacy that the Kentucky senator leaves in his wake these next three years.

SCOTUS’ decision that favored Trump, however, did not address one subject that should be seen as the proverbial fly in Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) ointment: The bulk of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove him from the primary ballot hinged on the fact that he violated the Fourteenth Amendment in instigating an insurrection against the United States of America. The SCOTUS decision doesn’t exonerate Donald Trump from the allegations of being a central figure on Jan. 6. The ruling doesn’t even come close to addressing it.

A glaring omission? Whatever the case, Congress is tasked with taking up the subject of preventing an insurrectionist from appearing on a national or federal ballot. It will not happen in this particular session of Congress. Maybe if the Democrats win the majority in November, the real business of accountability for insurrectionists will begin.