Former President Donald Trump appealed Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision to remove him from the state’s ballot on Tuesday.
Trump filed his appeal with a Maine court, arguing that Bellows was a biased decision maker, had no legal authority to remove him from the ballot and made “multiple errors of law and acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.” Bellows ruled Dec. 28 Trump was ineligible to appear on the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars individuals who took an oath to the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection from holding office.
“Even if Maine law authorized the Secretary to consider challenges to President Trump’s candidacy under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment (which it did not), The Secretary could not properly have considered Section Three and erred as a matter of law in doing so,” Trump’s appeal states.
His appeal states that Section Three “is not self-executing and requires congressional legislation.” Moreover, it does not apply to Trump because the president is not an “officer of the United States,” the filing argues.
The Colorado Supreme Court earlier found Trump ineligible to appear on the ballot Dec. 19. The Colorado Republican Party appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court last week.
Katelynn Richardsonon January 2, 2024
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