Maine Superior Court ordered that Ms. Bellows wait for the U.S. Supreme Court’s answer to President Trump’s appeal of a similar case arising out of Colorado.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows appealed a Maine Superior Court’s order on Jan. 23, arguing that the hold on her disqualification of former President Donald Trump as a candidate “undermines the Secretary’s ability to facilitate an equitable and orderly primary election on March 5.”
On Dec. 28, Ms. Bellows had issued a decision finding President Trump ineligible under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment after hearing three challenges from Maine voters who argued he engaged in an “insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021. However, the Superior Court’s decision stayed, or paused, the removal of President Trump from the ballot pending an appeal in court.
On Jan. 17, the court ordered that Ms. Bellows wait for the U.S. Supreme Court’s answer to President Trump’s appeal of a similar case arising out of Colorado, and certify the state’s ballot accordingly within 30 days. Ms. Bellows had argued that a Supreme Court decision may only resolve things for Colorado, which the Maine court found unlikely.
In the appeal filed by Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office on behalf of Ms. Bellows, the secretary is arguing that she is running up against state deadlines to finalize ballots, and the court has left her without a definitive answer.
She is requesting that the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s top court, issue a ruling on the merits of her disqualification decision by Jan. 31, before the U.S. Supreme Court’s answer.
“Section 337 is designed to produce an expedited resolution of challenges to primary petitions because of looming state and federal election deadlines,” the appeal reads.
The secretary’s concern is that the Supreme Court’s decision will still leave questions unanswered for Maine voters, and new challenges to President Trump’s eligibility will arise, forcing her to repeat the process from December.
The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 8, so even if a decision comes just days after oral argument, it would be far too close to the March 5 primary, she argued.
