Trump barred from 2024 primary ballot
First Colorado. Now Maine.
Maine on Thursday became the second state to bar Donald Trump from the 2024 primary ballot over his actions related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Several Maine citizens challenged Trump’s eligibility for the presidency under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) reviewed the Jan. 6 record and found the reasoning of the Colorado Supreme Court to strike Trump from the primary ballot there “compelling.”
“The U.S. Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government, and Section 336 [Maine statutes] requires me to act in response,” Bellows writes. “I am mindful that no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”
Trump will appeal both the Maine and Colorado decisions.
So many court cases, so little time
California gets in on the action, says nope (New York Times):
Hours later, her counterpart in California announced that Mr. Trump would remain on the ballot in the nation’s most populous state, where election officials have limited power to remove candidates.
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Michigan’s secretary of state lacks the authority to remove Trump from the primary ballot, writing, “At the moment, the only event about to occur is the presidential primary election. But as explained, whether Trump is disqualified is irrelevant to his placement on that particular ballot.”
Ron Fein, the legal director of Free Speech For People, which filed the lawsuit seeking to disqualify Mr. Trump, said the Michigan Supreme Court ruled narrowly, sidestepping the core questions at the heart of the case.
But, he noted in a statement, “The Michigan Supreme Court did not rule out that the question of Donald Trump’s disqualification for engaging in insurrection against the U.S. Constitution may be resolved at a later stage.”
“Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade announced on Nov. 30 that she does not have the legal authority to remove Trump from the primary ballot,” reported the Central Oregon Daily News on Thursday.
“I understand that people want to skip to the end of this story. But right now, we don’t even know who the nominee will be,” said Secretary Griffin-Valade in the statement. “When the general election comes, we’ll follow the law and be completely transparent with our reasoning.”
With felony charges to fend off in four jurisdictions and efforts countrywide to bar insurrectionists from state general election ballots, Donald Trump may have trouble finding time to actually campaign for president. Or one can hope.
He’ll fundraise the hell out of them all, naturally.