Supreme Court hears historic Trump 14th Amendment case: Key moments

Shannon Stevenson, the Colorado solicitor general, is now representing Secretary of State Jena Griswold. She is making the case that Colorado has the power, under state election code, to disqualify candidates who are ineligible to assume the office they’re seeking.

"Nothing in the Constitution strips the states of their power to direct presidential elections in this way," she said in her opening. "This case was handled capably and efficiently by the Colorado courts under a process that we've used to decide ballot changes for more than century. And as everyone agrees, the court now has the record that needs to to resolve these important issues."

Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked whether the high court should think about democracy when interpreting Section 3, specifically the right of the people to elect candidates of their choice.

Murray, in a lengthy answer, gave an impassioned argument that this case is at the heart of protecting democracy.

"Constitutional safeguards are for the purpose of safeguarding our democracy, not just for the next election cycle but for generations to come," he said. "And second, Section 3 is designed to protect our democracy in that very way. The framers of Section 3 knew from painful experience that those who had violently broken their oaths to the Constitution couldn't be trusted to hold power again again because they could dismantle our Constitution democracy from within."

"President Trump can go ask Congress to give him amnesty by a two-thirds vote but, unless he does that, our Constitution protects us from insurrectionists," he continued."This case illustrates the danger of refusing to apply Section 3 as written because the reason we're here is that President Trump tried to disenfranchise 80 million Americans who voted against him and the Constitution doesn't require that he be given another chance."

Justice Samuel Alito pressed Murray on what the U.S. Supreme Court should do if different states adjudicate Trump's conduct differently based on different sets of evidence or standards of proof.

"Would we have to decide what is appropriate standard of proof?" Alito asked. "Would we give any deference to these findings by state court judges, some of whom may be elected? Would we have to have our own trial?"

"No, your honor, this court takes the evidentiary record as it's given," Murray said. "And here we have an evidentiary record that all the parties agree is sufficient for a decision in this case."

"It would seem to me to be plain if Colorado position is upheld, surely there will be disqualification proceedings on the other side and some of those succeed," Chief Justice John Roberts said.

"The fact that there are potential frivolous applications of a constitutional provision isn't a reason to ...," Murray began to respond before Roberts cut him off.

"You might think they're frivolous, I think people who are bringing them may not think they're frivolous," Roberts said. "Insurrection is a broad, broad term and there's some debate about it."

"There's a reason Section 3 has been dormant for 150 and it's because we haven't seen anything like Jan. 6 since Reconstruction," Murray countered.