The state of Maine has removed Trump from the primary election ballot. Is that legal?

[AgnosticBoy]

A week or two ago, I read reports that Colorado removed former president Trump from their primary ballot. Now reports are coming in that Maine has done the same. I thought the rules on national elections were handled at a federal level. If so, wouldn't it be illegal for states to decide who gets on a presidential ballot in that state?

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows says she was following Maine's election law and upholding the U.S. Constitution when she disqualified Donald Trump from her state's presidential primary ballot.

Maine is the second state to bar Trump from the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution — a decision the Trump campaign said it would appeal. It is the only state where a challenge to a candidate's qualification is initially the responsibility of the secretary of state rather than a court.

"In Maine, we're very proud of our voting rights. We were first in the nation in 2022 with voter participation. And we have a statute that makes me different from any other state that I have observed," said Bellows. "My obligation under Maine state law was to issue a decision very quickly. I'm not permitted under Maine law to wait for the United States Supreme Court to intervene in this particular proceeding."

An appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Should the high court decide to review the case, it could have wide-ranging implications for other challenges to Trump's eligibility across the country.

In her decision, Bellows recognized that it "could soon be rendered a nullity" but "that possibility does not relieve me of my responsibility to act."

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/maines-secretary-state-explains-why-160356210.html

For debate... Are states allowed to make decisions on who gets to be on an election ballot?

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Trump supported insurrection, and that bars him from future elections per the 14th Amendment. But I think I see the political hot potato issue you’re driving at.

Plus, I’ll say—

the good guys should have acted quicker.

The U.S. House should have done a snap Impeachment the very night of the Insurrection, not something like 4 days later. Same night would have put more pressure on the Senate to act while Trump was still president.

And these kind of challenges should have been put forward in Colorado and Maine within like two months, so around March 2021. Yes, late in the game is better than nothing [and it’s more than I’ve done] but you end up missing that early energy.

And . . .

I miss the days our Supreme Court had an important swing vote in the middle, first Sandra Day O’Connor and then Anthony Kennedy, and for a while, the two of them together.

* it’s most likely our current Court will overrule. But they’ll have to put it in legal reasoning, my guess emphasizing the fact that Trump hasn’t been convicted of insurrection.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Are states allowed to make decisions on who gets to be on an election ballot?

We got an answer today from the Supreme Court, and it was all justices agreeing that the states have no power to kick someone off a ballot for a federal election. Personally, I agree with that decision.

The Supreme Court on Monday handed a sweeping win to former President Donald Trump by ruling that states cannot kick him off the ballot over his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — bringing a swift end to a case with huge implications for the 2024 election.

Source: NBC

In an unsigned ruling with no dissents, the court reversed the Colorado Supreme Court, which had determined that Trump could not serve again as president under Section 3 of the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

The provision prohibits those who previously held government positions but later “engaged in insurrection” from running for various offices.

The court said the Colorado Supreme Court had wrongly assumed that states can determine whether a presidential candidate or other candidate for federal office is ineligible.

The ruling makes it clear that Congress, not states, has to set rules on how the 14th Amendment provision can be enforced against federal office-seekers. As such, the decision applies to all states, not just Colorado. States retain the power to bar people running for state office from appearing on the ballot under Section 3.

"Because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the states, responsible for enforcing section 3 against all federal officeholders and candidates, we reverse," the ruling said.

Source: NBC