Maine Bars Trump From Ballot, California Opts to Let Him Stay

WASHINGTON — In a matter of hours Thursday night, Maine joined Colorado in barring former President Donald Trump from its primary election ballot, while California announced Trump would remain on its list of ballot-certified candidates.

The contrasting decisions by the two states, and previous decisions in Michigan and Minnesota that more closely comport with California, make the case ever-more ripe for intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court.

As reported by The Well News Thursday night, the Colorado Republican Party has already filed a petition asking the justices to review their state’s decision to keep Trump off the ballot.

If, and more likely when, the high court wades into the matter, it will be the justices’ biggest elections-related case since Gore v. Bush in 2000, and its ultimate decision is bound to be controversial.

In Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, wrote that Trump did not qualify for the ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

She rendered her decision in response to three challenges brought by Maine voters to Trump’s nomination petition, and in the wake of a consolidated hearing on those objections held on Dec. 15 in Augusta, Maine.

The hearing was livestreamed and can be viewed here.

Two of the three challenges focused on Trump’s alleged role in fomenting the siege on the Capitol and his multiple efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The third was premised on Trump’s claim that he actually won the 2020 election, which the resident petitioner interpreted to mean the ex-president is unlawfully running for a third term, in violation of the 22nd Amendment of the constitution.

Bellows concluded that Trump’s petition to appear on the ballot was invalid because he is not qualified to hold the office of the president under Section Three of the 14th Amendment.

In her written decision, Bellows said, “The record establishes that Mr. Trump, over the course of several months and culminating on Jan. 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol to prevent certification of the 2020 election and the peaceful transfer of power.

“I likewise conclude that Mr. Trump was aware of the likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop it,” she said.

“Mr. Trump’s occasional requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement do not immunize his actions,” Bellows continued. “A brief call to obey the law does not erase conduct over the course of months, culminating in his speech on the Ellipse.

“The weight of the evidence makes clear that Mr. Trump was aware of the tinder laid by his multi-month effort to delegitimize a democratic election, and then chose to light a match,” she said.

Bellows tossed the 22nd Amendment claim, holding that there is no real dispute over whether President Biden prevailed over Trump in 2020.

“Therefore, given Mr. Trump has only won a single election for president, he is not barred from being elected to the same office again under the 22nd Amendment,” she wrote.

Bellows concludes the decision by saying she did not reach her conclusion lightly.

“I am mindful that no secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the 14th Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection,” she wrote.

“The events of Jan. 6, 2021, were unprecedented and tragic. They were an attack not only upon the Capitol and government officials, but also an attack on the rule of law,” Bellows continued. “The evidence here demonstrates that they occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of, the outgoing president. The U.S. Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government, and Section 336 requires me to act in response.”

In California, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, also a Democrat, had faced a Thursday deadline to certify the list of official candidates so that local election officials could begin preparing ballots for the upcoming election.

In recent days she had indicated she was inclined to keep Trump on the ballot based on her interpretation of California law, despite a late request from the lieutenant governor to explore ways to remove him.

In a letter last week to California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who had asked her to explore ways to remove Trump from the ballot, Weber said, “While we can agree that the attack on the Capitol and the former president’s involvement was abhorrent, there are complex legal issues surrounding the matter.

“The former president’s conduct tainted and continues to sow the public’s distrust in government and the legitimacy of elections, so it is more critical than ever to safeguard elections in a way that transcends political divisions,” she continued.

“Removing a candidate from the ballot under Section Three of the 14th Amendment is not something my office takes lightly and is not as simple as the requirement that a person be at least 35 years old to be president,” she added.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, attacked the Maine and Colorado rulings Thursday night, dismissing them as nothing more than “partisan election interference efforts” and calling them “a hostile assault on American democracy.”

It is not clear how quickly the Supreme Court will respond to the petition from Colorado or the latest state decisions on Trump’s presence on their ballots. The justices are not formally scheduled to discuss or vote on petitions for review until Friday, Jan. 5.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue