Maine makes the same decision Colorado made on Dec. 19, deciding that former President Donald Trump, who leads opinion polls by a wide margin in the race for the 2024 Republican nomination, is not authorized to run in the primary. On the other hand, Michigan, last Wednesday, stated that it could do so. The pressure falls on the Supreme Court, the only one with the definitive decision-making power.
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Donald Trump could become the first candidate in US history to be ineligible for the presidency for participating in insurrection.
This Thursday, December 29, Maine Secretary of State, Democrat Shenna Bellows, concluded that Trump, a favorite for the Republican nomination in 2024, incited an insurrection when he spread false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 elections and then instigated his supporters to march towards the Capitol to prevent legislators from certifying the vote, therefore he cannot run in the primaries in this state in the northeast of the country.
In this way, Bellows refers to the disqualification for anyone who, after having previously taken an oath to the United States, has participated in a “rebellion or insurrection. A clause found in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, passed after the US Civil War to prevent former Confederates from serving in the Government.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows issued this decision regarding three challenges brought by Maine voters to the nomination petitions of Donald J. Trump for the Republican primary for the President of the United States. Read the decision here: https://t.co/dCwJsC6HN9
— MaineSOS (@MESecOfState) December 28, 2023
States such as Arizona, Florida or New Hampshire have rejected similar lawsuits, which seek to disqualify Trump in his aspiration to return to the White House, but only the Washington Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, with a conservative majority and with three magistrates appointed by Trump, would have the final say in force in all 50 states of the United States.
The Supreme Court is also where Trump has promised to appeal the Colorado ruling and the one that received the appeal from the Colorado Republican Party last Wednesday.
Trump's legal team has disputed that the former president participated in an insurrection and has argued that his comments to supporters on the day of the 2021 riot were protected by his right to free speech; He has also raised procedural arguments, including that eligibility under Section 3 was not mentioned in the required paperwork Trump submitted to appear on the state's ballot.
With Reuters, Efe and local media
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