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Maine ruling on Trump leaves his name on the ballot. What will the Supreme Court say?

The Supreme Court will take up the issue in a case from Colorado on Feb. 8.
Former President Donald Trump pumps his fist Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, at the Trump caucus night watch party at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Zach Boyden-Holmes, The Register/USA TODAY Network

Former President Donald Trump pumps his fist Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, at the Trump caucus night watch party at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Zach Boyden-Holmes, The Register/USA TODAY Network

A Maine judge said Wednesday Donald Trump can remain on the state's presidential ballot while the Supreme Court considers whether states can disqualify Trump for ginning up the crowd that assaulted the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Unless the Supreme Court disqualifies Trump before Maine's March 5 primary, voters who wish to cast their vote for him in the GOP primary can do so, Superior Court Judge Michaela Murphy wrote.

Trump had appealed Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows' ruling that the former president − and frontrunner for the GOP nomination − is not eligible to appear on the GOP presidential primary ballot March 5.

The Court is scheduled to hear arguments Feb. 8 on a similar decision by the Colorado state supreme court that Trump is barred from a second term in the White House for taking part in an insurrection.

More: Donald Trump's allies, critics clash over push to disqualify the former president over Capitol riot violence

Murphy said Wednesday that both Trump and the secretary of state had agreed that Bellows' decision should be paused until the high court weighs in.

While it's impossible to know what the Supreme Court will decide, Murphy wrote, "hopefully it will at least clarify what role, if any, state decision-makers" play in evaluating if Trump can be disqualified under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Civil War-era provision was intended to keep federal officials who sided with the Confederacy from regaining power in the reconstructed federal government.

"The Court believes it essential to factor in the risk of voter confusion should multiple administrative or judicial decisions addressing President Trump's eligibility to appear on the primary ballot issue before the Supreme Court rules" in the Colorado case, Murphy wrote.

Related: Why Trump's critics are citing Justice Gorsuch in fight over ballots, insurrection

 

In Trump's appeal to the Supreme Court, he urged the justices to "return the right to vote for their candidate of choice to the voters."

A Colorado district judge ruled late last year that Trump had "engaged in an insurrection" by inciting the mob that stormed that U.S. Capitol but said that the provision of the 14th Amendment that disqualifies certain officials involved in insurrection did not apply to a president. The state’s Supreme Court ruled that the provision does, in fact, apply to presidents and disqualified Trump.

In Maine, the secretary of state said the evidence demonstrates that the insurrection "occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of, the outgoing President (Trump)."

More: In the Supreme Court's hands: How will the justices rule on Trump's ballot appeal?

"The U.S. Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government," Bellows wrote.

Other states have reached a different conclusion: California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, said she would include Trump on her state's primary ballot. Supreme courts in Michigan and Minnesota both ruled that Trump would remain on the ballots in those states.

Most legal experts believe the high court will have to resolve the case, but will seek a way to do so narrowly. Dozens of similar lawsuits are pending in states across the country.

Author: Maureen Groppe

Source: USA Today

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