Jan. 20 (UPI) — Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has appealed a judge’s decision to delay a ruling in the case to remove former President Donald Trump from the states 2024 primary ballot.
Bellow’s issued an appeal Friday, two days after Kennebec County Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy declined to rule whether or not Trump should be disqualified from running in the primary based on the “insurrectionist clause” of the 14th Amendment.
Murphy sent the case back to the secretary of state Wednesday, arguing they should wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on whether or not Colorado can ban Trump from its primary ballot on the same grounds.
“Like many Americans, I welcome a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in the Colorado case that provides guidance as to the important 14th Amendment questions in this case,” Bellows said in statement to local media. “In the interim, Maine law provides the opportunity to seek review from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court – which I requested today.
“This appeal ensures that Maine’s highest court has the opportunity to weigh in now, before ballots are counted, promoting trust in our free, safe and secure elections.”
Bellows issued a ruling in December banning Trump from the state’s primary ballot on the grounds that he incited the riot on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Maine became the second state in the union, after Colorado, to disqualify the former president from running due to “insurrection.”
Trump appealed the decision to the Kennebec County Superior Court, arguing Bellows is a “biased decision maker” and “made multiple errors of law and acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.”
Bellows’ decision fell under heavy criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers who argued Trump should remain on the ballot “until he is actually found guilty of the crime of insurrection.”