Maine Secretary of State, Piggybacking on the Reasoning of the Recent Colorado Supreme Court Decision, Finds Trump Disqualified and Orders Him Off Primary Ballot (But Decision Stayed for Judicial Review)–Makes SCOTUS Review of Issue More Likely

You can find the 34-page decision of the Maine Secretary of State at this link.

Much of the reasoning of this decision tracks the analysis of the Colorado Supreme Court in Anderson. As Derek has suggested, the Colorado decision made it easier for other decisionmakers to remove Trump—being the first mover is always the riskiest.

Like the Colorado court, the SOS in Maine finds that Section 3 disqualification applies to the President, and that the President engaged in acts of insurrection that were not protected by the First Amendment.

The decision specifically contemplates judicial review, recognizing that this is a big and serious decision that will not be finally decided in an administrative proceeding like this one.

When you put the Colorado decision together with the Maine one, it is clear that these decisions are going to keep popping up, and inconsistent decisions reached (like the many states keeping Trump on the ballot over challenge) until there is final and decisive guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court. It seems almost a certainty that SCOTUS will have to address the merits sooner or later. And as I wrote in the Atlantic back in September, sooner is much better than later for the rights of voters to not be infringed and for the political stability of the country.

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