As recently as this weekend, the Supreme Court had not announced that it was going to issue opinions this week. Opinion releases usually happen when the Justices physically take the bench in Court, and the next opportunity for that which was listed on the Supreme Court website was March 15.
But the Court just changed its website to indicate that one or more opinions is going to be posted on the Supreme Court website at 10 am ET Monday morning. And the Justices won’t be taking the bench to do it.
There’s no plausible reason for this unusual break in protocol except for the potential to release the Trump Colorado disqualification case before voters vote on Super Tuesday. In fact, voters in Super Tuesday states have mostly had early voting opportunities to be voting for weeks. Tuesday is just the last day of voting. But I think the Court would like its opinion out before Colorado’s primary election day.
I certainly expect the Court is going to say that Colorado cannot disenfranchise Trump—and this would be especially true for them to issue an opinion a day before all this voting. If Trump were to be disenfranchised, the Court would not announce such a ruling the day before Super Tuesday, after many people in the jurisdiction had voted and with many more yet to vote.
The big question is not going to be if they reverse the Colorado Supreme Court but how they do so. Some ways will add some certainty and avoid chaos in the upcoming election; some may add to the chaos and I hope the Court avoids that.