Maine’s secretary of state on Monday ruled that former President Trump should be blocked from the state’s vote under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause after the Supreme Court ruled in his favor. Withdrawn.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has determined that individual states do not have the authority to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment with respect to federal agencies,” Maine Secretary of State Shena Bellows wrote in an amended decision obtained by The Hill. The court ruled that there is no such thing.” “In accordance with my oath and duty to obey the law and the Constitution, and pursuant to the Anderson decision, I hereby reverse my determination that Mr. Trump’s first petition is invalid.”
“As a result of the revised ruling, votes cast for Mr. Trump in the March 5, 2024 presidential primary will be counted,” Bellows continued.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled early Monday that only Congress has the power to enforce the 14th Amendment and disqualify federal candidates.
Originally designed to prevent former Confederates from returning to power, 14th Amendment Individuals who participate in the insurrection after taking an oath to support the Constitution are prohibited from returning to public office unless Congress acts to lift their disqualification.
It lay dormant for decades until anti-Trump voters and groups began filing dozens of lawsuits against Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Maine became the second state to block Trump’s primary vote in December. Colorado became the first state to disqualify President Trump after a group of Republicans and independent voters filed a lawsuit with the support of the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Ta.
Colorado’s decision was handed down by a court and made Bellows, a Democrat, the first state official to exclude a presidential candidate under the 14th Amendment.
“I do not come to this conclusion lightly. Democracy is sacrosanct,” Bellows said at the time.
“I note that no Secretary of State has ever stripped a presidential candidate of the right to vote under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment,” she wrote. “But I also note that no presidential candidate has ever rebelled.”
Bellows writes: Decision on page 34 At the time, President Trump was “aware of the tinderbox created by his months-long effort to delegitimize democratic elections, and then chose to light the fire.”
She told The Hill in an interview earlier this year that her office had been inundated with “sustained, abusive and threatening” messages targeting her, her staff and her family following her decision. .
The Supreme Court’s decision handed Trump a landslide victory on the eve of Super Tuesday, and is expected to move him closer to winning the Republican nomination. Colorado and Maine will hold their primaries on Tuesday.
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