A Maine judge on Wednesday told state election officials to wait for the US Supreme Court to rule on Donald Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 presidential ballot.
Trump asked the judge to overturn a prior decision that removed him from the Maine ballot, but the judge declined to do that, pausing the proceedings until the Supreme Court weighs in.
The Supreme Court plans to hear oral arguments in a similar case in Colorado early next month. Maine and Colorado are so far the only states to disqualify Trump based on his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Under Maine law, ballot challenges are first handled by the secretary of state, and then can be appealed in state courts. A group of voters filed a challenge in December and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows ruled that Trump was ineligible for office.
Kennebec County Superior Court Judge Michaela Murphy, who made Wednesday’s ruling, was appointed to the state bench by a Democratic governor in 2007 and then re-appointed in 2015 by then-Gov. Paul LePage, an outspoken Republican and Trump supporter.
Trump and his GOP allies have slammed Bellows, a Democrat, unsuccessfully tried to take her off the case, and criticized her as a liberal zealot who was unfairly undermining his campaign. She has also received death threats and was the target of a swatting incident last month. The court ruling to uphold her decision offers legal vindication for Bellows, who says her decision was solely based on the facts and the law.
Legal analyst predicts how Supreme Court will approach Trump’s Colorado ballot ban appeal
While Trump’s critics have succeeded in Maine and Colorado,…
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