Former President Donald Trump has submitted an appeal to Maine’s Superior Court regarding Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision that he is disqualified from appearing on the state’s primary ballot due to his involvement in the events that occurred on January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s legal team wrote in an 11-page complaint filed with the Kennebec Court Superior Court that Bellows’ ruling “was the product of a process infected by bias and pervasive lack of due process.”
“The Secretary should have recused herself due to her bias against President Trump, as demonstrated by a documented history of prior statements prejudging the issue presented.”
These statements were highlighted by Trump’s legal team before the ruling as well when he requested that Bellows recuse herself from the decision, claiming on his website that she is “a Biden supporter who is incapable of making a fair decision and allowing the people of Maine the right to vote for the candidate of their choosing.”
The appeal adds that Bellows “denied President Trump due process” and “abused her discretion by considering and relying upon untrustworthy evidence.”
In the complaint, Trump’s legal team requested that the Superior Court “Vacate the Secretary’s ruling,” declaring that Bellows “has no jurisdiction or authority to continue, maintain, or begin any further proceedings concerning President Trump’s alleged disqualification as a candidate for President.”
Bellows ruled on December 28 that the former president violated Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that no person can hold a public office if they took an oath on the Constitution and later “engaged in insurrection.”
Bellows stated after ruling on the case that 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,” as reported by The Dallas Express.
Trump has faced more than a dozen lawsuits seeking to disqualify him from the primary ballots by citing Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment;
Although state courts in Michigan and Minnesota dismissed the lawsuits filed, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the former president “engaged in insurrection” and would be removed from the primary ballot.
However, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced shortly after the decision that Trump would be placed back on the ballot after an appeal was filed by the Colorado Republican Party, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
