CNN senior political analyst Van Jones ripped into the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday as it became likely the majority of its justices would overrule the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to keep former President Trump off of the state's primary ballot.
A frustrated Jones lashed out at the justices, claiming their rulings often disenfranchise women and other citizens, while this time they let a "disenfranchiser" like Trump, completely off the hook.
Jones added that if former President Obama had encouraged a mob like he claimed Trump did on January 6th, then Obama would be in "jail."
CNN CUTS AWAY FROM TRUMP, LAUGHS AT REACTION TO SCOTUS ARGUMENTS
Jones made his comments during a cable news segment with CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Thursday following a day of oral arguments about whether the Colorado court has the right to remove Trump off of a presidential ballot for violating Article 3 of the 14th Amendment by engaging in "an insurrection."
The highest court in America appeared skeptical of Colorado's arguments, a revelation that prompted Jones' scathing criticism of the judicial body.
Jones vented his displeasure, saying, He said, "Look, the big news today: Trump had a good lawyer. That was interesting to watch. Other than that, it’s almost been like a foregone conclusion, which I think is very frustrating for a lot of people."
He continued, "This is a Supreme Court that seems very strong when it’s time to take rights away from women. Very strong when it’s time to take diversity programs from college kids – very strong. Voting rights away from Americans – very, very strong."
Proclaiming the court’s partiality towards the former president, he added, "But now it’s time to disenfranchise the disenfranchiser, and they’re just looking for the exits. They can come up with excuses to do whatever they want to, but on this one, they were trying to find any way not to do what I think a normal person looking at this would say."
Jones then made the Obama comparison, saying that Trump did the equivalent of Obama sending "10,000 Black Lives Matter people to destroy a joint session of Congress." However, he noted that if Obama had done that, the Supreme Court would rule that Obama would "be in jail, and he couldn’t run for president again."
"It’s just bizarre to me to watch the system continue to bend over backwards as [Trump] plays this chicken game with our system," the commentator said, adding, "He is playing a game of chicken and every institution swerves, including the Supreme Court."
CNN contributor and conservative commentator Scott Jennings followed Jones’ Obama/Trump comparison by saying, "I don’t know how to respond to a hypothetical like that."
"All I know is this: the reality is that if this Supreme Court today, under the circumstances that we now have, and the legal situation that we now have, were to throw Donald Trump off the ballot, it would send our country and our political system into a world of chaos," Jennings added.
"I view this whole thing today, Jake, as a way to begin to clear the decks so that the American people can decide the future of Donald Trump," he added.
