Maine Court Puts Trump Ballot Decision on Hold Until After US Supreme Court Acts

Washington — A Maine court on Wednesday ordered the state's top election official to reevaluate a decision to bar former President Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a related case from Colorado. 

State Superior Court Judge Michaela Murphy found that the Supreme Court's decision to take the Colorado case "changes everything about the order in which these issues should be decided and by which court." 

The judge ordered Maine Secretary of State Shanna Bellows, a Democrat, to reassess her decision to bar Trump from the ballot within 30 days after the Supreme Court rules. 

In December, Bellows determined that Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was ineligible to hold office again under a provision in the U.S. Constitution that bars people who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion from holding office. 

Depending on the sweep of its ruling in the Colorado case, the U.S. Supreme Court could resolve the issue nationwide in the coming weeks, with oral arguments scheduled for February 8. 

Maine and Colorado are so far the only two states to disqualify Trump under the constitutional provision, known as Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Both states have put their decisions on hold while Trump appeals. 

Courts and election officials in several other states have rejected similar ballot challenges to Trump's candidacy.