'He Is Not Qualified':
JESSICA CORBETT for Common Dreams
Despite several ongoing criminal cases, Trump is
currently the Republican front-runner for next year's presidential contest, in
which Democratic President Joe Biden, who beat him in 2020, is seeking
reelection.
The decision in Maine comes just weeks away from the Iowa
caucuses and amid multiple legal battles aiming to boot Trump from ballots for
inciting the January 6, 2021 insurrection—including in Colorado, where the
state Supreme Court disqualified him last week, a decision
that could soon be
reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, to which he appointed three justices.
Bellows' move—which will ultimately be decided in the
courts—came in response to three challenges filed to Trump's nomination, two
based on the 14th Amendment and one citing the 22nd Amendment. The former bars
anyone who has taken an oath to the Constitution and then engaged in
insurrection from holding office again, while the latter sets a two-term limit
for presidents.
The Maine official said Thursday that "there appears to be no dispute between any of the parties that President Biden prevailed over Mr. Trump. Therefore, given Mr. Trump has only won a single election for president, he is not barred from being elected to the same office again under the 22nd Amendment."
However, regarding the 14th Amendment arguments,
she found that
"the record establishes that Mr. Trump, over the course of several months
and culminating on January 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to
inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol to prevent certification
of the 2020 election and the peaceful transfer of power."
"I likewise conclude that Mr. Trump was aware of the
likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both
encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop
it," she wrote in the 34-page decision.
Bellows stressed that "Mr. Trump's occasional
requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement do not immunize
his actions. A brief call to obey the law does not erase conduct over the
course of months, culminating in his speech on the Ellipse. The weight of the
evidence makes clear that Mr. Trump was aware of the tinder laid by his
multimonth effort to delegitimize a democratic election, and then chose to
light a match."
"I am mindful that no secretary of state has ever
deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section 3 of the
14th Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has
ever before engaged in insurrection," she wrote.
Citing a relevant state law, Bellows said that "the
oath I swore to uphold the Constitution comes first above all, and my duty
under Maine's election laws, when presented with a Section 336 challenge, is to
ensure that candidates who appear on the primary ballot are qualified for the
office they seek."
"The events of January 6, 2021 were unprecedented
and tragic," she added. "They were an attack not only upon the
Capitol and government officials, but also an attack on the rule of law. The
evidence here demonstrates that they occurred at the behest of, and with the
knowledge and support of, the outgoing president. The U.S. Constitution does
not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government, and Section 336
requires me to act in response."
The secretary suspended the effect of her decision until
the Maine Superior Court rules on any appeal, or the appeal period expires.
In a lengthy statement noting similar fights in other
states, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said that
"we will quickly file a legal objection in state court to prevent this
atrocious decision in Maine from taking effect."
He also took aim at Bellows, saying that "the Maine
secretary of state is a former ACLU attorney, a virulent leftist, and a
hyperpartisan Biden-supporting Democrat who has decided to interfere in the
presidential election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden."
Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich, now a professor
at the University of California, Berkeley, said on social media that the U.S.
Supreme Court "will surely have the final word."
As Common Dreams reported earlier Thursday, the
government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
and law firms representing six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters who
brought the 14th Amendment challenge in the state are asking the U.S. Supreme
Court to weigh in on their case by February 11, given the timeline for mailing
ballots.
Law Dork's Chris
Geidner said Thursday
that a Supreme Court review "is made almost certain given a new ruling
from Maine's secretary of state."