In accordance with the “insurrectionist ban” of the 14th Amendment, another state eliminated former US President Donald Trump from the 2024 primary ballot, dealing him a serious setback.
After the former president was disqualified from the ballot earlier this month by the Colorado Supreme Court, Maine is now the second state to do the same, according to CNN.
For Trump’s detractors, who point to the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol as evidence, the development represents a major win in their quest to uphold a constitutional clause intended to defend the nation against anti-democratic insurrectionists.
Chief election official for Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, declared in her decision that the events of January 6, 2021 “took place at the instigation of, and with the awareness and approval of, the departing head of state.”
The verdict occurred in reaction to objections made by a few Maine voters. It stated, “The US Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government and (Maine law) requires me to act in response,”
The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which prohibits anyone who has pledged to defend the nation and thereafter participates in insurrection, was cited in the verdicts in both states.
“I do not come to this conclusion lightly,” the Democrat Bellows wrote. “I am aware that, in accordance with Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, no Secretary of State has ever denied a presidential contender access to the vote box. Nevertheless, I also keep in mind that no presidential candidate has ever before participated in insurrection.”
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Swiftly afterward, Bellows’ decision was denounced by Trump’s campaign as “virulent leftist and hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat” and as “attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter”.
Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung accused Democrats and President Joe Biden of “relying on the force of government institutions to protect their grip on power” and added in a statement, “These partisan election interference efforts are a hostile assault on American democracy.”
