AUGUSTA, Maine — Former President Donald Trump asked a Maine court on Monday to pause its consideration of Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision to disqualify him from the 2024 ballot until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a similar Colorado case.
Trump’s attorneys noted in a motion the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to take up last month’s Colorado Supreme Court decision to rule the Republican ineligible for the state’s primary ballot after finding he violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment by engaging in insurrection when he incited the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Bellows, a Democrat, ruled Trump ineligible on similar grounds a week after the Colorado decision but said she would stay her decision until a Maine court ruled. Trump appealed the Maine decision to the state Superior Court and the Colorado ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear oral arguments Feb. 8 before issuing a decision.
Trump attorneys Bruce Hepler, Benjamin Hartwell, Scott Gessler and Gary Lawkowski wrote in Monday’s motion that the Augusta court should stay its decision until any Supreme Court ruling, noting both Maine and Colorado will send ballots to military and overseas voters on Jan. 20 and that Trump will thus appear on the primary ballot before any final ruling.
Justice Michaela Murphy, who is handling the Superior Court case, told Trump and Bellows last week she will rule by Jan. 17 on his appeal after receiving briefs from both sides, a timeline required under state law. Any Superior Court decision could be appealed within three days to Maine’s high court, which would have 14 days to issue a final ruling on Trump’s status.
If the Supreme Court keeps Trump off the primary ballot, then Maine will have “ample time to resolve the remaining issues” before this summer’s Republican National Convention and the November general election, the attorneys wrote.
Trump and his legal team accused Bellows of showing “extreme bias” in the case, and Monday’s brief said the Superior Court may wish to “set forth clear standards for disqualifying a biased agency official.” (Bellows has noted Trump’s attorneys missed a chance to call for her recusal before a December hearing and only made such a call after the hearing.)
Apart from noting the Supreme Court case involves the same legal issues raised in the Maine case, Trump’s attorneys wrote the “request for stay presents highly unusual circumstances that are unlikely to ever occur again.”
“Any stay will be of a short duration in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s urgent action,” Trump’s attorneys added.
Maine and Colorado both have “Super Tuesday” presidential primaries on March 5.
