Citing the insurrection clause in the US Constitution, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Thursday (28/12) banned President Donald Trump’s name from being placed on the ballot in the presidential primary election.
Bellows, a Democrat, is the first election official to take unilateral action while the US Supreme Court is expected to decide whether Trump is still eligible to run again for president.
Bellows previously concluded that Trump incited an insurrection when he claimed fraud in the 2020 election and then urged his supporters to march on Congress to block lawmakers from certifying the election results.
The Trump campaign responded by saying it would appeal Bellows’ decision to Maine state court.
FILE – Secretary of State Shenna Bellows speaks at an event, Jan. 4, 2023, in Augusta, Maine. (AP/Robert F. Bukaty)
The Trump campaign wrote, among other things, “The Secretary of State of Maine is a former attorney for the ACLU (American civil liberties organization, ed.) an evil leftist and hyperpartisan Biden-supporting Democrat who has decided to interfere in the presidential election in the name of Crooked Joe Biden. We are witnessing, in real time, the attempted election theft and disenfranchisement of American voters. Democrats in the states they control are recklessly and unconstitutionally suspending the civil rights of American voters by attempting to quickly remove President Trump’s name from the ballot.”
Bellows’ decision follows a ruling earlier this month by the Colorado Supreme Court barring Trump from being on the ballot there under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
The ruling will remain in place until the US Supreme Court decides whether Trump is barred under a Civil War-era provision that bars people “engaged in insurrection” from holding government office. (uh/ab)