Current:Home > FinanceMaine's top election official asks state supreme court to review Trump ballot eligibility decision-InfoLens
Maine's top election official asks state supreme court to review Trump ballot eligibility decision
View Date:2024-12-23 10:55:07
Washington — Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows asked the state's highest court to review her decision to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot, seeking its intervention after a Maine superior court judge paused Bellows' ruling while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a similar dispute over Trump's eligibility.
"I know both the constitutional and state authority questions are of grave concern to many," Bellows, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday. "This appeal ensures that Maine's highest court has the opportunity to weigh in now, before ballots are counted, promoting trust in our free, safe and secure elections."
Maine and 15 other states hold their GOP presidential primaries on March 5, known as Super Tuesday.
Bellows determined last month that Trump is ineligible for the presidency under a Civil War-era constitutional provision and should therefore be kept off Maine's primary ballot. Trump appealed the decision to the Maine Superior Court, and a judge on Wednesday put Bellows' decision on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court weighs a similar challenge to the former president's candidacy from Colorado.
In her ruling, Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy also sent the matter back to Bellows for additional proceedings as needed in light of the Supreme Court's forthcoming decision. Once the nation's highest court weighs in, Bellows has 30 days to issue a new decision "modifying, withdrawing or confirming" her December determination about Trump's eligibility, Murphy said.
Bellows said in her statement she welcomes a ruling from the nation's highest court "that provides guidance as to the important Fourteenth Amendment questions" raised in the Colorado case, but noted that Maine law allows her to seek review from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
The request from Maine's top election official means that a second state high court could address whether Trump is constitutionally eligible for a second term in the White House under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment before the Supreme Court hears arguments Feb. 8.
Trump's lawyers on Thursday urged the justices in his opening brief to "put a swift and decisive end" to efforts to exclude him from the 2024 ballot, which have been pursued in more than 30 states. Trump's brief warned that the challenges to his candidacy threaten to disenfranchise millions of his supporters and "promise to unleash chaos and bedlam if other state courts and state officials follow Colorado's lead and exclude the likely Republican presidential nominee from their ballots."
- In:
- Donald Trump
- Maine
Melissa Quinn is a politics reporter for CBSNews.com. She has written for outlets including the Washington Examiner, Daily Signal and Alexandria Times. Melissa covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts.
TwitterveryGood! (87)
Related
- Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin to kick off fundraising effort for Ohio women’s suffrage monument
- Senior Taliban officials visit villages struck by earthquake that killed at least 2,000 people
- Hamas attack on Israel thrusts Biden into Mideast crisis and has him fending off GOP criticism
- NASCAR Charlotte playoff race 2023: Start time, TV, streaming, lineup for Bank of America ROVAL 400
- J.Crew Outlet Quietly Drops Their Black Friday Deals - Save Up to 70% off Everything, Styles Start at $12
- Workers at Mack Trucks reject tentative contract deal and will go on strike early Monday
- Investigators: Pilot error was cause of 2021 plane crash that killed 4 in Michigan
- New York, New Jersey leaders condemn unprecedented Hamas attack in Israel
- Rafael dissolves into a low pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico after hitting Cuba as a hurricane
- Stock market today: Asian markets are mixed, oil prices jump and Israel moves to prop up the shekel
Ranking
- Former North Carolina labor commissioner becomes hospital group’s CEO
- What went wrong? Questions emerge over Israel’s intelligence prowess after Hamas attack
- Fantasy football rankings for Week 5: Bye week blues begin
- ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ takes possession of box office with $27.2 million opening
- Mike Tyson has lived a wild life. These 10 big moments have defined his career
- A former Goldman Sachs banker convicted in looting 1MDB fund back in Malaysia to help recover assets
- EU Commission suspends ‘all payments immediately’ to the Palestinians following the Hamas attack
- Horoscopes Today, October 7, 2023
Recommendation
-
Georgia's humbling loss to Mississippi leads college football winners and losers for Week 11
-
'You can't be what you can't see': How fire camps are preparing young women to enter the workforce
-
New York, New Jersey leaders condemn unprecedented Hamas attack in Israel
-
Jimbo Fisher too timid for Texas A&M to beat Nick Saban's Alabama
-
Two 'incredibly rare' sea serpents seen in Southern California waters months apart
-
Georgia officers say suspect tried to run over deputy before he was shot in arm and run off the road
-
Eminem and Hailie Jade Are the Ultimate Father-Daughter Team at NFL Game
-
Eminem and Hailie Jade Are the Ultimate Father-Daughter Team at NFL Game