A decision on former President Donald Trump’s ballot eligibility in Maine was pushed back by Superior Court Michaela Murphy on Wednesday, freezing a decision until the Supreme Court delivers its ruling on Trump’s Colorado ballot eligibility case.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at his caucus night event at the Iowa Events Center on January ... [+]
Murphy wrote in her decision she wanted to minimize “any potentially destabilizing effect of inconsistent decisions,” the Associated Press reported.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, ruled in December Trump should be disqualified from the state’s ballot under the 14th Amendment, which states no person shall “hold any [state or federal]
office” if they’ve previously taken an oath of office and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the [U.S.], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” based on his alleged incitement of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.Trump appealed her decision to state court, asking the court to throw out Bellows’ ruling and “immediately” place Trump back on the presidential ballot.
Bellows “wrongfully denied President Trump a place on the Republican ballot,” the ex-president alleged, claiming the secretary of state is biased against him, denied him due process and didn’t have any legal grounds to kick him off the ballot.
The court’s ruling could still be appealed to Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court, and then after that, the Supreme Court. Maine’s Republican presidential primary election is set to take place on March 5.
How the Supreme Court’s ruling in a separate 14th Amendment case could affect Maine and other states. Colorado was the first state to order Trump off the ballot when the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in December that he could be disqualified under the 14th Amendment. That ruling was then appealed to the Supreme Court, which said in January it would take up the case, scheduling oral arguments for Feb. 8. It will consider whether to overturn the Colorado ruling, but it remains to be seen whether justices will issue a sweeping order—which could also then be applied to Trump’s status on other states’ ballots—or will be specific to Colorado.
The debate over whether Trump should be disqualified from the ballot under the 14th Amendment has gained steam in recent months, with Maine one of a slew of states that have had to reckon with Trump’s candidacy. Colorado and Maine are so far the only states to decide Trump should be kicked off the ballot, while courts and officials in such other states as California, Michigan and Minnesota have kept Trump’s candidacy in place. Seventeen states still have 14th Amendment challenges pending or being appealed, according to a tracker maintained by Lawfare. Bellows was also the first election official to decide against Trump’s candidacy, after her counterparts in a number of other states said they believed they didn’t have the power to kick Trump off the ballot and the issue should be left up to the courts. “The Office of Secretary of State in Minnesota is not the eligibility police,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, told Minnesota Public Radio in September.
Who Is Shenna Bellows? What To Know About Maine Secretary Of State Who Kicked Trump Off Ballot (Forbes)
Trump Barred From Maine Ballot Under Insurrection Clause (Forbes)