Donald Trump, the former US president, appealed on Tuesday against a Maine top election official’s decision that would have prevented him from appearing in the state’s presidential primary.
Last week, Maine joined Colorado in preventing Trump from running for office in the primary due to his involvement in his followers’ January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Shenna Bellows, the Democratic secretary of state of Maine, was criticized by Trump’s legal team for being a “biased decisionmaker” who “acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner,” and they petitioned the Maine Superior Court to overturn her decision.
The US Constitution’s 14th Amendment prohibits Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, from participating in the presidential primary in Colorado, according to a decision made by the Colorado Supreme Court last month.
If someone has participated in “insurrection or rebellion” after having previously sworn to support and defend the Constitution, they are ineligible to hold public office under Section Three of the 14th Amendment.
The purpose of the 1868 amendment, which was enacted following the Civil War, was to bar supporters of the Confederacy, which owned slaves, from running for office in Congress or occupying federal jobs.
The Maine case is likewise anticipated to eventually reach the nation’s highest court. The Republican Party in Colorado has appealed the Colorado Supreme Court decision to the US Supreme Court.
The attack on January 6 “occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of, the outgoing President,” Bellows wrote in her conclusion.
“The US Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government and (Maine law) requires me to act in response,” she said.
Other states have also filed challenges to Trump’s eligibility under the 14th Amendment. Recently, courts in Michigan and Minnesota decided that Trump ought to remain on the ballot in those states.
The former president, who has been impeached twice, is set to go on trial in Washington in March for allegedly plotting to rig the 2020 election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden.
In Georgia, he is also accused of conspiring to tamper with election results, a crime for which he is prosecuted.
March 5, commonly referred to as “Super Tuesday,” is when voters in over a dozen states, including Texas and California, cast ballots for the presidential nominations in Maine and Colorado.