By DAVID SHARP, Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Monday requested a state choose to halt proceedings on poll entry in Maine to permit the U.S. Supreme Court time to rule on a case out of Colorado by which Trump was kicked off the poll over his position within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Maine Democrat Shenna Bellows final month grew to become the primary secretary of state in historical past to bar somebody from working for the presidency below the hardly ever used Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. That provision prohibits those that “engaged in insurrection” from holding workplace.
In Colorado, the state supreme courtroom reached the identical conclusion in a 4-3 choice, 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 within the Colorado case, and Trump’s legal professionals requested a Maine Superior Court choose to pause the state continuing as a result of points earlier than the Supreme Court are “identical to the federal issues raised in this case, the resolution of which may be dispositive of this matter.”
The Supreme Court will likely be contemplating for the primary time the that means and attain of a provision of the 14th Amendment. The Constitution’s Section 3 has been barely used for the reason that years after the Civil War, when it stored defeated Confederates from returning to their former authorities positions. The two-sentence clause says that anybody who swore an oath to “support” the Constitution after which engaged in rebel can not maintain workplace except a two-thirds vote of Congress permits it.
In Maine, Bellows invoked the availability lower than two weeks in the past however she mentioned she would abide by regardless of the courts resolve. Her choice is on maintain in the meanwhile, pending the end result of litigation. Trump’s attorneys contend, amongst different issues, that she ought to have recused herself.
Republicans are livid over her choice, and a Maine House Republican lawmaker proposed an impeachment decision. The House might take up the matter as quickly as Tuesday. But the impeachment effort is a longshot as a result of Democrats management each chambers of the Maine Legislature.
Bellows has known as the impeachment effort a sham and political theater. “I have confidence in my decision and confidence in the rule of law,” she mentioned beforehand.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”