Maine court declines to rule in Trump ballot case before US Supreme Court

The Maine Superior Court declined to rule on the appeal of Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ earlier decision to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot. 

In a decision filed on Wednesday, Judge Michaela Murphy returned the question of Trump’s eligibility to Bellows, ordering her to issue a new ruling after the U.S. Supreme Court decides on a similar case out of Colorado.

Bellows, a Democrat, disqualified Trump from Maine’s presidential primary ballot last month because of his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol under the Constitution’s “insurrection clause” — making Maine the second state to do so after Colorado. 

Both Bellows and the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was ineligible for the primary ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits those who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding office again. 

The Colorado decision has since been taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court. Oral arguments for that case are scheduled for Feb. 8. 

While it is not unprecedented for secretary of states to remove candidates from their state ballots, Bellows is the first to bar a candidate from ballot access under the 14th Amendment, a decision she has since received criticism and threats over. Republican state representatives also attempted to impeach her at the start of the legislative session earlier this month, a move that failed in a mostly party-line 60-80 vote. 

Bellows is reviewing the decision and declined to comment at this time.

Emma Davis is a reporter based in Portland, Maine, where she focuses on government accountability.