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| Maine's top election official removes Trump from 2024 primary ballot |
| 2023-12-29 |
| [CNN] Maine’s top election official has removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot, in a shock decision based on the 14th Amendment’s "insurrectionist ban." Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows paused her decision pending a potential appeal in state court, which Trump’s team said they intend to file. The decision makes Maine the second state to disqualify Trump from office, after the Colorado Supreme Court handed down its own stunning ruling that removed him from the ballot earlier this month. The development is a significant victory for Trump’s critics, who, citing the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, say they’re trying to enforce a constitutional provision that was designed to protect the country from anti-democratic insurrectionists. after presiding over an administrative hearing earlier this month about Trump’s eligibility for office. A bipartisan group of former state lawmakers filed the challenge against Trump. "I do not reach this conclusion lightly," Bellows wrote. "Democracy is sacred ... I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection." Ratified after the Civil War, the 14th Amendment says American officials who "engage in" insurrection can’t hold future office. But the provision is vague and doesn’t say how the ban should be enforced. Most legal experts believe the US Supreme Court will settle the issue for the entire country. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #19 Re #13, if I may... ;-) Goyishe Kopferganda, or, Fifty Words for Herds Incredulous foreigners say, "A Republican Congress? Oy, vey, You goyim robe robbings With primitive daubings, All shmutsik gradations of grey!" |
| Posted by: Sheba Slomoth7597 2023-12-29 21:50 |
| #18 ^ More like checking to see if the frogs realize there's a flame under the pot. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2023-12-29 17:50 |
| #17 So it's all theater. Which costs Trump money, and I hope, costs The Biden Puppet Show votes. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2023-12-29 17:43 |
| #16 The decision makes Maine the second state to disqualify Trump from office Awkshually, CNN, it is zero states. Colorado decision and this one, I presume, are null while being challenged. I like how she immediately confirms she does not have the authority to do such a thing. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2023-12-29 16:27 |
| #15 SteveS, the Colorado Supreme Court did the same. They stayed their own decision. They believe it will be overturned on appeal. The same thing is going on here. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2023-12-29 16:19 |
| #14 #8 agree |
| Posted by: Chris 2023-12-29 14:57 |
| #13 Question*: If D's have the elections nailed, how come there's R's majority Congress? *From an ignorant foreigner, if you like. |
| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2023-12-29 14:12 |
| #12 #7 Yep, and folks are indeed invested. The great victory of the Deep State is conning the folk into believing the coming civil war is grassroots. |
| Posted by: Albemarle Crusose2178 2023-12-29 13:51 |
| #11 #3, the answer is "yes". |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2023-12-29 13:45 |
| #10 Bellows is appointed not elected. Even Collins has condemned this overreach. It is not going to stand. Next they will try to have the ballot printer refuse to include Trump. They think they are on a diving board but they are walking the plank. Someone has guaranteed future compensation to Bellows or has strongly implied it. She better have it in writing because blowback is coming with all the velocity and stench of a projectile vomit stream. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-12-29 12:48 |
| #9 Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows paused her decision pending a potential appeal in state court Wait a sec! Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows stayed her own ruling? Not a lawyer, but this sounds like Trump is not off the ballot yet. At least not off off. Looking at a pic of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, my very first thought was Daddy Issues. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2023-12-29 12:37 |
| #8 if these ballot-bans hold. let the shooting start. |
| Posted by: irish rage boy 2023-12-29 12:25 |
| #7 Telegraphimg concurrence via silence. As more states smell the blood and pike on, it becomes a people's decision. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2023-12-29 11:23 |
| #6 ...making sure the pressure cooker explodes before they decide to make another mistake. "See it wasn't us." Dear SCOTUS, hope is not a strategy. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2023-12-29 11:19 |
| #5 I think SCOTUS is looking for any way to avoid having to decide this; hoping for procedural delays to string out long enough for a decision to be moot. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2023-12-29 10:25 |
| #4 How can Trump be charged with insurrection against the US government? Given he was the head of the US Government To you. To them bureaucracy is the real government. |
| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2023-12-29 09:59 |
| #3 BTW: Are the LSD's using this technique to drain time & $$$$$$ from Trumps defense team? TRUMP should countersue every Sec of State for the legal costs and time. |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2023-12-29 07:21 |
| #2 QUESTION: How can Trump be charged with insurrection against the US government? Given he was the head of the US Government and calling for a Fair and Honest Vote investigation Count? QUESTION: So, having OPENLY violated basic legal and constitutional supported rights of a person. Will all Secretary of State's conducting this Political Faust be impeached? An, should they be charged with: 18 U.S. Code § 2383 - Supporting Rebellion, or insurrection, - 18 U.S. Code § 241 - Conspiracy against rights using the color of Law? Either way, it looks like Democrats only practice "Innocent until PROVEN guilty" if the persons' innocence serves their political party agenda. |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2023-12-29 07:13 |
| #1 Bellows, a Democrat, issued the decision Thursday Shocking ! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2023-12-29 03:23 |