Lawsuits in 14 US states aim to exclude Donald Trump from the presidential race
Donald Trump appealed this Tuesday (2) the decision of the Supreme Electoral Authority of Maine that excluded him from this year's Republican Party primaries in the state due to his role in the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, reported the North American press.
The favorite for the Republican nomination, Trump asked the state Supreme Court to overturn Secretary of State Shenna Bellows' decision to ban him from participating in the March 5 primary.
The Democratic Party's Bellows concluded that Trump incited an insurrection to retain power after losing the 2020 election and was therefore barred from holding public office again under the U.S. Constitution.
Trump's lawyers have previously disputed the claim that their client took part in an insurrection and argued that Bellows did not have the authority to disqualify him from the primary.
The decision comes after a group of former Maine lawmakers called on Bellows to remove Trump from the primary, arguing that he cannot become president because of a provision in the Constitution that prohibits people from holding office if they engage in an “insurrection” in the United States after taking an oath of office.
Activist groups and some antiTrump voters have filed multiple lawsuits against Trump's candidacy based on that provision, known as Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The lawsuits argue that Trump incited his supporters to violence by spreading false claims of fraud in the 2020 election and encouraged them to go to the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's victory.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to weigh in on the matter soon after Colorado's highest court barred Trump from the state's primary. A Supreme Court ruling could provide a nationwide solution to questions surrounding Trump's electability.
1 of 1 Trump Photo: Portal/Scott Morgan Trump Photo: Portal/Scott Morgan