This year's presidential election in the United States has begun to be fought in court. Former president and current Republican candidate Donald Trump has appealed to the Maine Supreme Court over Secretary of State Shenna Bellows' decision to bar him from the Republican primary in that district. Trump's lawyers believe Bellows' interpretation that he was ineligible to run under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because he took part in a “rebellion or insurrection” is incorrect.
At the same time, Trump is preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States against the decision of the highest judicial body in Colorado to bar him from participating in the primaries in that state under the 14th Amendment. In both states, the primaries will take place on March 5, the so-called Super Tuesday, the day on which more than a third of the delegates who will nominate the Republican presidential candidate will be elected.
In the appeal in Maine, Trump's defense cites reasons why it believes his exclusion was illegal. The lawyers say the Secretary of State's decision is “the result of a process rife with bias and a widespread lack of due process; is arbitrary, capricious and characterized by abuse of discretion; affected by a legal error; Ultra vires and is not supported by any substantial evidence on file.”
Trump's lawyers believe that Bellows should have abstained because of his alleged bias against the former president and that he would have no legal authority to make such a decision even if it were true that he took part in an insurrection.
The letter indicates that it is not the Secretary of State who must apply the 14th Amendment, but rather that disqualifying a candidate falls to the Electoral College and Congress. The third section of the 14th Amendment states: “He shall not be a senator or representative in Congress, nor an elector for the election of the President and Vice President, nor shall he hold any office, civil or military, under the authority of the United States or of any other.” .” State, whoever, having sworn, has previously supported the Constitution of the United States as a member of Congress, as an officer of the United States, or as a member of the legislative assembly of any State, or as an executive or judicial officer thereof, has taken part has engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or has given aid or relief to the enemies of the country.” He adds that this veto may be overridden by Congress by the consent of two-thirds of each chamber. It is an amendment passed in 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War, aimed at preventing Confederate rebels from occupying positions of power.
Trump's appeal states that this provision does not apply automatically and that “it leaves state officials no role in its application.” They argue that the law prohibits certain people from “occupying certain positions, [pero] not that they are presented to them or that they are selected for them.” They also note that “this does not apply to President Trump because he has never served as an 'officer of the United States' and has never taken an 'oath to support the United States.' Constitution', but that the President's oath is to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”
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They add that the amendment refers to any “officer of the United States,” a term that they interpret does not apply to the president. Curiously, the tables have turned: In the New York fraud case, the former president's lawyers said he should be brought to federal court because Trump was an “officer of the United States,” and the prosecution successfully argued otherwise.
Additionally, lawyers say Trump did not participate in any insurrection. The public speeches on which Ballows' decision was based, including those he made before the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, are protected by freedom of speech, the appeal says.
The Secretary of State's decision will be put on hold pending a court appeal. The Supreme Court must decide before January 17th. His decision can be appealed to the Maine Supreme Court, and the sentence he imposed can in turn be appealed to the nine justices of the United States Supreme Court, with a majority of six conservative justices, three of whom were appointed by Trump himself. during his presidency.
Those justices must also rule on the appeal that Trump's lawyers plan to file this week against the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling that barred him from that state's primary. The highest court in the land has never ruled on the interpretation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and its doctrine will apply in the other states where Trump's electability is also in question.
Bellows commented on the appeal in statements to the Associated Press on Tuesday: “This is part of the process. I trust my decision and the rule of law. “This is Maine's process and, above all, it is very important that each and every one of us in government respect the Constitution and the laws of the state,” he said.
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