10 months ago
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is asking the state’s highest court to weigh in on her decision to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot while a related decision by Colorado judges remains pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I know both the constitutional and state authority questions are of grave concern to many,” Bellows said in a statement Friday. “This appeal ensures that Maine’s highest court has the opportunity to weigh in now, before ballots are counted, promoting trust in our free, safe and secure elections.”
Bellows ruled last month that Trump should not appear on the state’s 2024 ballot, concluding that his incitement of the Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol put him afoul of the 14th Amendment’s bar on insurrectionists holding public office. Trump challenged her ruling in Maine superior court, and a judge put Bellows’ ruling on hold in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the matter.
But Bellows’ appeal gives the opportunity for one more state high court to weigh in before the Supreme Court’s Feb. 8 arguments on the Colorado decision.
“Like many Americans, I welcome a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in the Colorado case that provides guidance as to the important Fourteenth Amendment questions in this case,” Bellows said.
Neither the Colorado nor Maine decisions have affected Trump’s place on those states’ 2024 primary ballots. Both decisions were paused pending the outcome of rulings from higher courts.
Trump filed his opening brief at the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday, arguing that permitting individual states to remove him from the ballot would “unleash chaos.”
English (US)