Maine’s supreme court declines to hear Trump ballot eligibility case

Maine’s prime court docket Wednesday night declined to weigh in on whether or not former President Donald Trump can keep on the state’s poll, maintaining intact a choose’s resolution that the U.S. Supreme Court docket should first rule on the same case in Colorado.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, concluded that Trump did not meet poll {qualifications} below the riot clause within the U.S. Structure however a choose put that call on maintain pending the Supreme Court docket’s resolution on the same case in Colorado.

In a unanimous resolution, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court docket dismissed Bellows’ enchantment of the order requiring her to await the U.S. Supreme Court docket resolution earlier than withdrawing, modifying or upholding her resolution to maintain Trump off the first poll on Tremendous Tuesday.

“The Secretary of State suggests that there’s irreparable hurt as a result of a delay in certainty about whether or not Trump’s title ought to seem on the first poll will end in voter confusion. This uncertainty is, nevertheless, exactly what guides our resolution to not undertake instant appellate evaluate on this specific case,” the court docket stated.

Bellows’ resolution in December that Trump was ineligible made her the primary election official to ban the Republican front-runner from the poll below the 14th Modification. In Colorado, the state supreme court docket reached the identical conclusion.

The timelines are tight as Maine’s March 5 main approaches. The U.S. Supreme Court docket is listening to arguments on the Colorado case on Feb. 8, and Maine has already begun mailing abroad ballots.

The nation’s highest court docket has by no means dominated on Part 3 of the 14th Modification, which prohibits those that “engaged in riot” from holding workplace. Some authorized students say the post-Civil Conflict clause applies to Trump for his position in making an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election and inspiring his backers to storm the U.S. Capitol after he misplaced to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump contends Bellows ought to have recused herself, and that she was biased in opposition to him. Trump stated her actions disenfranchised voters in Maine, and have been a part of a broader effort to maintain him off the poll.

Bellows, who was elected by the Democratic-controlled Legislature, stated she was certain by state legislation to make a dedication after a number of residents challenged Trump’s proper to be on the first poll. She put her resolution on Trump’s poll eligibility on maintain pending judicial proceedings, and vowed that she would abide by a court docket’s final ruling.

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