Maine’s secretary of state has now joined the majority of Colorado’s Supreme Court in concluding former President Donald Trump is ineligible to serve as president (again) under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
This means Trump is 0-2 in states that have analyzed the 14th Amendment constitutional question. Both Colorado and Maine have now found that the events of Jan. 6, 2021 amounted to an insurrection, that Trump engaged in or gave aid or comfort to those who engaged in the insurrection, and that Section 3 applies to the office of the president.
Trump is 0-2 in states that have analyzed the 14th Amendment constitutional question.
The Colorado ruling is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, after the Colorado GOP on Wednesday petitioned the justices to decide whether Trump should be disqualified from the state primary ballot. As I have written previously, even if the high court does take up this case, it could sidestep the constitutional question at its center of this controversy and rule on narrower grounds. But the decision by Maine’s top election official should push the Supreme Court to acknowledge the fact that 100% of the states to rule on this constitutional question have ruled against Trump. Their factual and legal findings should be entitled to some deference by the nation’s high court.
Colorado and Maine are not the only states that considered challenges to Trump’s eligibility. Michigan, Arizona, Minnesota, and to a certain extent, California, have all dealt with challenges and opted to keep him on the ballot. But those cases shouldn’t be viewed as legal triumphs for Trump. In each example, the decisions were based on procedural grounds and confined to the primary ballot, not the general election ballot. These decisions, simply put, should provide no solace for any Supreme Court justices seeking to overturn the decision of the Colorado supreme court.
In Michigan, the state Supreme Court ruled that this isn’t the type of question…
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