Maine Supreme Court declines to rule on Trump ballot eligibility before SCOTUS

The Maine Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to consider former President Donald Trump's removal from the state ballot on 14th Amendment grounds, siding with a lower court that had deferred ruling until the Supreme Court rendered its decision in a similar case from Colorado.

Earlier this month, Maine Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy deferred judgement, saying "the United States Supreme Court’s acceptance of the Colorado case changes everything about the order in which these issues should be decided, and by which court."

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows subsequently appealed to the state's top court to hear the case, which the judge declined to do.

"Because the appeal is not from a final judgment, we dismiss the appeal as interlocutory and not justiciable," the court wrote.

Bellows issued the original determination that Trump's role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot rendered him ineligible for the presidency under the 14th Amendment and ordered his removal from the state ballot. She did, however, stay the order to allow for Trump to challenge his removal. Her decision followed a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court to the same effect. Trump has appealed both cases and the Supreme Court plans to hear the Colorado case on Feb. 8.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung lauded the Wednesday decision, saying "[t]his evening, in Maine, Crooked Joe Biden was dealt a devastating in blow in his desperate attempt to remove President Trump’s name from the ballot and to deprive tens of millions of Americans of the right to vote for the candidate of their choice."

"This disenfranchisement effort, lead by Crooked Joe’s Democrat acolyte and desperate partisan Secretary of State, was soundly rejected by Maine's Supreme Court in a dismissal of the Secretary’s appeal of a prior order, which kept President Trump on the ballot," he continued. "President Trump is confident that the the United States Supreme Court will ultimately be fair and eliminate these meritless, sham '14th Amendment' cases once and for all. Until then, President Trump will continue to fight them off at every turn. Make America Great Again!"

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.