The recent postponement of a ruling concerning the removal of President Donald Trump from the Maine state ballot has raised multiple substantial constitutional and administrative law questions. The Maine Superior Court has temporarily deferred a decision to exclude Trump from the state’s primary election ballot, a move that was initially instigated by the Maine Secretary of State Shanna Bellows.
Judge Michaela Murphy has remanded Trump’s appeal of Bellows’ choice as a US Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s constitutionality of Trump’s removal from Colorado’s ballot is awaited. The decision to remand was based on the Maine Administrative Procedure Act, Section 11004(4)(B), which allows a court to: “Remand the case for further proceedings, findings of fact or conclusions of law.”
Under normal circumstances, according to the state law, a court is required to issue a written ruling 21 days after a petition challenging a decision is filed. Trump filed an appeal to stay Bellows’ decision on January 2. However, Murphy stated that the delay of proceedings by issuing a remand was in the “public interest” and would “minimize any potentially destabilizing effect of inconsistent decisions.”
Trump was disqualified from the Maine ballot in December based on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, which states that anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same (the US Constitution), or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” is disqualified from holding elected office. Bellows argues that this applies to Trump due to his involvement in insurrection post the 2020 election, which culminated in the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol.
In his appeal, Trump claimed that he was denied due process and presented evidence alleging that Bellows was biased against him. In his additional claims, he stated that state officials ruling on issues raised under the Fourteenth Amendment is unlawful.
The US Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in the Colorado case on February 8. Once the Supreme Court has ruled on Trump’s removal from the Colorado ballot, Bellows will have a 30-day window to withdraw, confirm, or modify her original decision. The date set for Maine’s primary election is March 5.