On Friday, Maine’s chief election official, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, expressed her intention to challenge the recent decision by a state Superior Court judge that temporarily suspended her choice to exclude former President Donald J. Trump from the Republican primary ballot in the state.
In her statement, Secretary Bellows acknowledged the forthcoming guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court, scheduled to hear arguments on a similar case on February 8.
However, during this interim period, she indicated her plan to seek input from Maine’s highest court.
In a late Friday ruling, Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill of the highest court in Maine characterized the order from the lower court as “generally not appealable.” Chief Justice Stanfill directed Secretary Bellows to furnish a justification by Tuesday for why the appeal should not be dismissed.
Maine Democrat Blocks Trump Ballot
Ms. Bellows, a Democrat elected by the State Legislature, issued a ruling on December 28, asserting that Mr. Trump was ineligible for inclusion on the state ballot in Maine due to his involvement in incitement, specifically, encouraging the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Citing the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies government officials who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding office, her decision marked Maine as the second state to prevent him from appearing on the ballot, following a similar conclusion reached by a Colorado court.
Numerous ballot challenges on similar grounds have been lodged in at least 35 states, with many still pending resolutions despite the ongoing primary season.
Legal representatives for Mr. Trump contested Ms. Bellows’s decision in the state’s Superior Court, contending that her determination was biased and that she lacked the authority to exclude him from the ballot.
In a court order on Wednesday, Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy neither endorsed nor reversed Ms. Bellows’s decision but directed the secretary of state to issue a new decision subsequent to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.