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It was a big week for the Donald Trump disqualification storyline. Maine joined Colorado as the second state to find the former president constitutionally ineligible to take office again. Following the Colorado Supreme Court ruling last week, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows on Thursday also said Trump can’t appear on the state’s primary ballot. But like the Colorado high court ruling, which is on hold pending a U.S. Supreme Court appeal, Bellows put her decision on ice pending any state court challenge.
Hours after the Maine decision, California’s secretary of state declined to keep Trump off the state’s list of primary candidates. That follows the Michigan Supreme Court earlier this week declining to hear a Trump eligibility case — but like the Minnesota Supreme Court’s order in November that effectively kept Trump on that state’s primary ballot, Michigan did not grapple with the key constitutional issues addressed in Maine and Colorado.
Colorado’s state GOP has already petitioned the Supreme Court justices to review the decision disqualifying Trump. We don’t know if or when the nation’s high court will take up the appeal, and Trump may file his own petition soon as well. But clearly the 14th Amendment issue isn’t going away, so the justices should settle it nationwide — and soon.
Jack Smith’s team didn’t take the holiday week off in D.C. The special counsel is still filling the district court docket, this week lodging what’s called a motion in limine. Latin for “at the threshold,” such motions are routine filings seeking to address issues ahead of trial. With this one, Smith wants to…
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