AUGUSTA, Maine — Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys filed an appeal Tuesday of last week’s decision by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to rule Trump ineligible for Maine’s 2024 Republican primary ballot.
A Superior Court judge in Augusta will hear the appeal, which was expected after Bellows, a Democrat, ruled Dec. 28 that Trump violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — which bars anyone who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office — by inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s appeal to the Superior Court said he is “aggrieved” by Bellows’ decision, calling the secretary of state a “biased decisionmaker who should have recused herself” and reiterating its arguments that Bellows lacked the legal authority and erred in disqualifying Trump.
Trump’s attorneys — Scott Gessler, Gary Lawkowski, Bruce Hepler and Benjamin Hartwell — also argued Bellows denied him due process and that the candidate form he submitted to appear on Maine’s ballot does not mention Section 3 of the 14th Amendment under the qualifications to become president.
The appeal asks the Superior Court to overturn Bellows’ decision and place Trump back on the ballot for Maine’s GOP primary, which is March 5.
Bellows, who put her ruling on hold while the appeal plays out, was thrust into the national spotlight by becoming the first secretary of state to deem the GOP frontrunner ineligible for the 2024 presidential primary. The Maine decision came about a week after the Colorado Supreme Court also ruled Trump ineligible under the same section of the 14th Amendment.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court could also take up any appeal of a Superior Court decision, but the U.S. Supreme Court, with a conservative majority that Trump cemented during his first term in office from 2017 to 2021, will likely have the final say nationally on his ballot eligibility. Maine sends ballots to military and overseas voters starting Jan. 20.
Other attempts to disqualify Trump under the 14th Amendment argument raised in August by two conservative law professors have failed, with the Michigan Supreme Court and California’s Democratic secretary of state among the authorities in recent weeks to keep him on the ballot.
Bellows has noted Maine law empowers her as secretary of state to disqualify a candidate if any part of their declaration, which includes an oath saying they are eligible for office, is deemed false. Similarly, Colorado’s high court noted a specific provision in state law that allows for the disqualification of constitutionally ineligible candidates.
Bellows was required to hold a hearing and rule on Trump’s eligibility under Maine law after receiving three separate challenges from Maine registered voters, with the most notable one coming from former Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling, a Democrat, and former state Sens. Tom Saviello of Wilton, who is now an independent after serving as a Republican, and Kim Rosen of Bucksport, a Republican.
Trump, the first former U.S. president to be indicted in history, is facing four pending criminal cases, including one alleging he sought to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory over him in the 2020 election.
The challengers argued evidence was clear Trump violated the 14th Amendment, ratified after the Civil War to keep former Confederates out of the government.
Bellows concluded in her ruling that Trump “used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol,” also saying that the former president “was aware of the likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action stop it.”
Republicans have sharply criticized Bellows for disqualifying Trump, with Rep. John Andrews, R-Paris, calling for impeachment. But any impeachment attempt faces tall odds of succeeding in the Democratic-controlled Legislature that returned this week for the new session.
Bellows has also said she and her staff have received threats following her decision, with police investigating a “swatting” call made to her Manchester home on Dec. 29 while she and her family were gone.
