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Michael Cianchette is a Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan. He is in-house counsel to a number of businesses in southern Maine and was a chief counsel to former Gov. Paul LePage.
It was the best of decisions, it was the worst of decisions. This is a tale of two Democrats.
Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy is a Democrat. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is a Democrat, a former lawmaker turned constitutional officer.
This sets our scene.
As we all know, former President Donald Trump’s candidacy was challenged in Maine. That placed the issue with the secretary of state.
Bellows issued a decision declaring Trump ineligible to appear on Maine ballots. This was appealed to the courts by the former president’s campaign. Murphy got assigned the case.
Late last week, Murphy rendered her decision. It was elegant.
Reflecting an age of wisdom, Murphy went through the various aspects of Bellows’ decision. She rejected several points raised by Trump’s attorneys. However, she went on to acknowledge that many of the legal questions in dispute are presently pending before the United States Supreme Court.
While jumping into the legal fray might be an exciting judicial exercise for a state court trial judge, Murphy demurred. Using the statutory framework enacted by the Maine Legislature, she sent the dispute back to Bellows, ordering the secretary of state to wait for the Supreme Court’s decision and revisit the issues in light of their guidance.
It was remarkably well done. But it is only part of the story.
Plenty of Republicans publicly lambasted Bellows for making what they viewed as a partisan decision. It even led to the filing of articles of impeachment against her.
Thus far, I haven’t joined in. While I think her old Twitter statements should certainly raise eyebrows, the fact is our silly system for choosing constitutional officers often leads to former politicians holding these offices. In a particularly topical twist, State Treasurer Henry Beck — another former Democratic lawmaker turned constitutional officer — is Justice Murphy’s son.
Yet regardless of how Bellows was chosen, once three other former elected officials filed their challenge to Trump, the secretary of state became obligated to act. She had to reach a decision. That’s the job.
Had it ended there, I would defend her. But Bellows decided not to accept Murphy’s decision. Instead, she filed an appeal to the Maine Supreme Court.
To me, it reflected something other than an age of wisdom.
Bellows had said all the right things after she issued her first decision. She acknowledged that it was up to the courts to deal with the complex, thorny legal issues. She went on numerous television news channels to discuss her reasoning. She confirmed she would abide by the decisions of the judicial branch.
That all rang hollow once she made the voluntary choice to appeal.
In fact, the Maine Supreme Court issued a rare order requiring Bellows and others to explain why her appeal should not be dismissed. Since Justice Murphy had sent the case back to Bellows, the normal rule is that the government agency and court must issue a final decision before the highest court will hear it.
Late Wednesday night, Maine’s Supreme Court rejected Bellows’ appeal.
For all the machinations about the GOP presidential primary, the two primary decision makers — Murphy and Bellows — are Democrats. Yet, like the cities of Charles Dickens’ famous novel, these two could not be more different.
Murphy holds judicial office and made a clear, reasoned, sober decision. Bellows holds political office and made, at first, a straightforward decision, later colored by her voluntary choice to seek a second opinion from Maine’s highest court.
To riff on Dickens, these two decisions from Democrats should be received in the superlative degree of comparison only. Like a high school English class, the reader can decide which decision was the best and which was the worst.
