AUGUSTA, Maine — Former President Donald Trump will know by Jan. 17 whether a Maine court will uphold Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision to keep him off the Republican primary ballot.
A Friday procedural order from Justice Michaela Murphy in Kennebec County Superior Court said Trump and his attorneys have until Monday to file a brief as part of his appeal of the decision from Bellows, a Democrat, to rule him ineligible for the state’s primary ballot after finding Trump violated the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Murphy will accept opposing briefs from the parties that challenged Trump’s eligibility in Maine until Wednesday, followed by any reply from Trump due Thursday, before making a final decision by Jan. 17, a timeline required under state law.
The Maine proceedings may get overshadowed by the U.S. Supreme Court agreeing Friday to take up the Colorado high court’s decision to disqualify Trump. Any Superior Court decision could also get appealed within three days to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which under state law would have 14 days to give a final ruling on Trump’s ballot status.
That could go past Jan. 20, when Maine sends the first round of primary ballots to military and overseas voters. But the timeline illustrates the unprecedented legal proceedings playing out in Maine and Colorado, the only two states to so far rule Trump ineligible for primary ballots based on the 14th Amendment. Challenges to his eligibility in other states have failed.
Bellows ruled Dec. 28 that Trump incited the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and thus violated the 14th Amendment, making her the country’s first top elections official to disqualify the GOP frontrunner after the Colorado Supreme Court also ruled him ineligible. Trump appealed the decision, arguing Bellows lacked the authority to disqualify the former president.
Murphy’s order said the Superior Court has already conducted three conferences on the Trump appeal, including one on Friday, to confirm the deadlines.
The judge also hoped to issue a report on “multiple issues of first impression generated by this litigation,” but the parties could not reach an agreement, the judge’s order said without elaborating. (A “first impression” is a new legal issue or interpretation presented to a court.)
Maine’s presidential primary is scheduled for “Super Tuesday” on March 5. It will vote that day alongside 15 other states.
