This Thursday (28), Maine became the second state to ban Donald Trump from participating in the Republican primaries on the grounds that he committed an insurrection. Last week, the Colorado Supreme Court removed the businessman from the race on similar grounds.
However, the decision this Thursday was made not by judges, but by the Maine Secretary of State, a position elected by the local legislature that is responsible, among other things, for overseeing the federal unit's elections department. This is Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, at the request of a group of voters. The unusual path arises from differences in the constitutions of Colorado and Maine.
“I am aware that no Secretary of State has ever denied a presidential candidate access to the vote based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. However, I also recognize that no presidential candidate has ever committed an insurrection,” Bellows wrote.
On December 15, she heard the plaintiffs' arguments in a hearing that lasted about eight hours. Bellows served as Secretary of State for three years. She previously served as a senator and executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maine.
The Trump campaign has five days to appeal the decision to the Maine Supreme Court, which the former president's spokesman Steven Cheung has already announced. If the judge upholds the decision, the business owner can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.
Even before Elbows' decision, Trump's lawyers had asked her to declare herself unfit to serve in her role due to a conflict of interest, citing her social media comments about the invasion of the Capitol and Trump's impeachment.
In a statement, Cheung classified the minister's actions as “partisan election interference.” “Democrats in Republican states are unconstitutionally and recklessly suspending the civil rights of American voters by summarily attempting to remove President Trump’s name from the ballot.”
In both the Colorado and Maine cases, the legal argument is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that prevents people who have already taken an oath to protect Magna Carta from holding public office again if they do so Commit “insurrection or rebellion.” The amendment was historically used to bar Confederate candidacy after the American Civil War and has been virtually unused since.
After accusations of fraud without evidence surrounding the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol, in which Trump supporters attempted to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory, many jurists and organizations began to argue that the 14th. The constitutional amendment would apply to the former president.
The primary elections in Maine and Colorado will take place on March 5, Super Tuesday, where voters from several states will vote on which candidate they prefer as their party's name in the presidential race.
Similar lawsuits were filed in more than 30 states but were dismissed by state courts. This Wednesday, for example, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that it could not bar Trump from participating in the primary because the state constitution does not grant him that authority.
Out there
The issue will ultimately need to be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court, where the Trump campaign has said it will also appeal the decision made in Colorado. The deadline for submitting the application is January 4th. There is no indication of when the matter will be decided, but both the state Republican Party and the voters who filed the lawsuit against Trump have filed a request for urgent consideration of the appeal.
If the justices agree to consider the appeal, the Supreme Court's decision will have general impact, meaning it will apply to all states. The current composition of the group is conservative.