The Supreme Court ruled that former President Donald Trump will appear on the Maine ballot on March 5 and November 2024. The decision was made unanimously on March 4. Only Congress itself has the power to apply Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, meaning states cannot individually disqualify a politician from holding office. All votes cast for Trump will be counted.
Following Colorado, Maine was the second state to call for Trump’s removal from the 2024 ballot. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows released a 34-page statement on Dec. 15, which defended Maine’s decision to disqualify Trump from running due to his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Bellow’s decision has since been retracted due to the recent Supreme Court ruling.
“Consistent with my oath and obligation to follow the law and the Constitution, and pursuant to the Anderson decision, I hereby withdraw my determination that Trump’s primary petition is invalid,” Bellows said in a modified ruling.
Polls are officially open for Super Tuesday, which is an opportunity to vote for the President eight months before November. Millions of U.S. citizens will participate across 15 states. Democrats and Republicans are holding primaries or caucuses in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Utah, Virginia and the U.S. territory of American Samoa.
Moving up the Election Day gives states a greater chance of influencing results. Trump is expected to secure the republican nomination due to the most recent Supreme Court decision. One-third of available delegates in both parties are at stake. Two judicial branches of the states opening for primaries did attempt to remove Trump from the ballots.
Currently, Trump is ahead of President Joe Biden by approximately 25% in the primary with 273 delegates. He needs 1,215 more to secure the nomination, while Biden needs 1,968 votes for the Democratic Party nomination. Eight hundred sixty-five delegates are at stake in the Republican Party. Maine has 20 Republican delegates and 24 Democratic delegates.
Trump provoked outrage in the Republican Party by claiming the 2020 election votes were counted unjustly. He made a public speech accusing the U.S. Government of voter fraud, which instigated a riot. Two months after he lost the 2020 election, a mob of supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C. to prevent confirmation of the voter results in Biden’s favor.
“Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild,” Trump tweeted on Dec. 19, 2020.
The supporters impeded a joint session of Congress counting electoral college votes. Due to the aggressive nature of about 2,000 rioters who illegally entered the Capitol, several people died, and hundreds sustained injuries.
The congressional select committee claimed Trump’s tweet played a major role in prompting the insurgent violence that took place against the government. The Supreme Court did not specify the extent of his legal involvement in its ruling.
Trump has been indicted four times within the last year and faces 91 felony counts. He is accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in Washington D.C. and Georgia. Furthermore, he may be charged with hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate and falsifying business records by making hush money payments during the 2016 campaign period.
The four-count overturning indictment includes conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and defraud the U.S. Government. Trump pleaded not guilty, and the case was set for trial on March 4, until he appealed it for the reason of potential prosecution immunity for official acts taken in the White House. It is unclear whether or not the Supreme Court will intervene.
The hush money scheme involves installments made during the former president’s campaign period to cover up extramarital sexual encounter allegations. The case will first proceed to trial on March 25. Thirty-four felony counts are connected to a series of checks written for Trump’s lawyer as compensation for monetarily silencing Stormy Daniels, a porn actor who alleged a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
The classified documents case is composed of 40 felony charges. Allegedly, the papers contained a classified map and Pentagon plan of attack that was indiscreetly exposed. Trump repeatedly enlisted lawyers and aides to conceal top-secret documentation from investigators.
Biden, 81, is the oldest president in American history. Many question his authority and argue that he does not have the stamina to serve another four years. He is once again running alongside Vice President Kamala Harris. Members of the Democratic Party have criticized Biden’s lack of support toward a permanent ceasefire in Palestinian territory.
The rematch between Trump and Biden will determine whether the majority of people in the country and members of Congress believe Trump’s actions in and out of office to be illicit or that he should be reappointed nevertheless.
