Trump asks Maine judge for pause to let US Supreme Court rule on ballot access
Former President Donald Trump is asking a Maine judge to halt proceedings on ballot access to allow the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a Colorado case in which Trump was kicked off the ballot over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Monday asked a state judge to halt proceedings on ballot access in Maine to allow the U.S. Supreme Court time to rule on a case out of Colorado in which Trump was kicked off the ballot over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Maine Democrat Shenna Bellows last month became the first secretary of state in history to bar someone from running for the presidency under the rarely used Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. That provision prohibits those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
In Colorado, the state supreme court reached the same conclusion in a 4-3 decision, and that case already has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by Trump's attorneys.
The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled arguments in the Colorado case, and Trump's lawyers asked a Maine Superior Court judge to pause the state proceeding because issues before the Supreme Court are “identical to the federal issues raised in this case, the resolution of which may be dispositive of this matter.”
