FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally, March 2, 2024, in Richmond, Va. The Supreme Court has restored Donald Trump to 2024 presidential primary ballots, rejecting state attempts to hold the Republican former president accountable for the Capitol riot. The justices ruled a day before the Super Tuesday primaries that states cannot invoke a post-Civil War constitutional provision to keep presidential candidates from appearing on ballots. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

Blue states won’t be able to remove Donald Trump from 2024 presidential ballots under a ruling Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court rejected attempts from several states to invoke a post-Civil War constitutional provision to keep presidential candidates from appearing on ballots. That power resides with Congress, the court wrote in an unsigned opinion. The outcome ends efforts in Colorado, Illinois, Maine and elsewhere to kick Trump, the front-runner for his party’s nomination, off the ballot because of his attempts to undo his loss in the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

One of those efforts was proposed in New York state, where Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, D-New York City, introduced A.8392 in late December.

The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 in part to ensure civil rights for freed slaves and to prevent former Confederate officers from running for Congress and attempting to overthrow the government they had rebelled against. Congress lifted that ban in 1872 and language prohibiting insurrectionists from office was only used twice since. In 1919 Congress refused to seat a socialist in Congress, saying he gave aid and comfort to the nation’s enemies during World War 1. A New Mexico judge ruled in 2022 that a county commissioner who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was barred from holding office under the clause.

“The oath to support the United States Constitution that an individual must take before assuming the duties of elective office is in direct conflict with participating in an insurrection or rebellion against the United States. Anyone who participates in the insurrection or rebellion against the United States, like the one at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, betrays our country and is not suitable to serve in elective office. This legislation will ensure there is a process in place to preclude an individual who participated in an insurrection or rebellion against the United States from being able to serve in elective office,” Dinowltz wrote in his legislative justification.

The New York bill hadn’t gained much traction yet, likely in part because of the lawsuits filed in other states.

Trump’s case was the first at the Supreme Court dealing with a provision of the 14th Amendment that was adopted after the Civil War to prevent former officeholders who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office again.

Some election observers have warned that a ruling requiring congressional action to implement Section 3 could leave the door open to a renewed fight over trying to use the provision to disqualify Trump in the event he wins the election. In one scenario, a Democratic-controlled Congress could try to reject certifying Trump’s election on Jan. 6, 2025, under the clause.

Trump’s lawyers mounted several arguments for why the amendment can’t be used to keep him off the ballot. They contended the Jan. 6 riot wasn’t an insurrection and, even if it was, Trump did not go to the Capitol or join the rioters. The wording of the amendment also excludes the presidency and candidates running for president, they said. Even if all those arguments failed, they said, Congress must pass legislation to reinvigorate Section 3.

Trump posted on his social media network shortly after the decision was released: “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.