Trump's campaign boosted by Maine superior court's response to ballot ban appeal

Portland, Maine - A Maine superior court said Wednesday it would not weigh in on a decision by the state's top election official to keep Donald Trump off the presidential primary ballot until the US Supreme Court rules on the matter.

Donald Trump (c.) will stay on Maine's presidential primary ballot after the state's top court said the US Supreme Court must settle the issue of his eligibiity.
Donald Trump (c.) will stay on Maine's presidential primary ballot after the state's top court said the US Supreme Court must settle the issue of his eligibiity.  © REUTERS

Several US states have been grappling with whether to bar Trump from ballots over his role in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.

Maine's secretary of state, Democrat Shenna Bellows, ordered that Trump be kept off the ballot, a decision the former president has asked Kennebec County Superior Court Judge Michaela Murphy to overturn.

But the judge court said the Supreme Court must first rule on a Colorado case on the issue – a decision expected at an unspecified future date – and then Bellows must then adapt to that ruling.

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Colorado's Supreme Court ruled last month that Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is ineligible to appear on the presidential primary ballot because of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. The state's Republican Party has appealed that decision to the US Supreme Court.

Wednesday's order in Maine means that Trump will be eligible to appear on the ballot for the state's March 5 primary "unless the Supreme Court before that date finds President Trump disqualified to hold the office of president."

Similar 14th Amendment challenges have been filed in other states as well. Courts in Minnesota and Michigan recently ruled that Trump should stay on the ballots there.

This article was amended after a previous version incorrectly described Maine's superior court as the state's "top court."

Cover photo: REUTERS

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