PORTLAND – The ex-president Donald Trump He appealed this Tuesday the ruling of Maine’s main electoral authority that decided to remove him from the presidential primaries in this state in the northeast of the country.
It is expected that the former president will also request the Supreme Court to issue a decision regarding your eligibility to return to school. White House for a related case in Colorado.
Last week, Maine joined Colorado in blocking Trump from appearing on primary ballots due to his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by his supporters, which Democrats accuse him of.
Trump’s lawyers urged the Maine Superior Court to throw out the ruling.
“Biased”
The Republican candidate appealed the decision of Democrat Shenna Bellows, who he claims made a “biased” decision and “acted arbitrarily and capriciously.”
Trump’s appeal to the Maine Supreme Court alleges that Bellows had no jurisdiction in the matter and asks that he be required to include Trump on the March 5 primary ballot. The appeal argues that the official abused his discretion and relied on “unreliable evidence.”
“The Secretary should have recused herself due to her bias against (former) President Trump, as demonstrated by a documented history of prior statements prejudging the matter presented,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
Trump was also scheduled to appeal a similar ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday directly to the highest federal court, which has never ruled on Section 3. The 4-3 decision by The Colorado court against Trump was the first time in history that the provision was used to prevent a presidential candidate from appearing on the ballot.
Trump’s critics have filed dozens of lawsuits seeking to disqualify him from the ballot in multiple states.
None were successful until a slim majority of Colorado’s seven judges — all appointed by Democratic governors — ruled against Trump. Critics of that decision warned that it was an overreach and that the court could not simply declare that the Jan. 6 riot was an “insurrection” without a more established judicial process.
Bellows “implicated for expressing an opinion”
A week after Colorado’s ruling, Bellows issued his own. Critics warned it was even more dangerous because it could pave the way for partisan election officials to simply disqualify candidates they oppose.
Bellows, former director of the Maine office of the American Civil Liberties Union, has previously criticized Trump for the events of January 6.
Similar 14th Amendment challenges have also been filed in other states.
Courts in Minnesota and Michigan recently ruled that Trump must appear on the ballots in these states.
Chain trials against Trump
The former president is scheduled to go on trial in Washington in March accused by Democrats of alleged conspiracy to “alter the results” of the 2020 election, which Democrat Joe Biden won.
Trump also faces charges of alleged extortion in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to alter the election results in this southern state, according to Democrats.
Maine and Colorado hold primaries on March 5 during so-called “Super Tuesday,” when voters in more than a dozen states, including California and Texas, go to the polls.
Source: With information from AP and AFP
