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By Paul Roland Bois
The states of California and Maine are now exploring options to keep former President Trump off their respective state ballots in the wake of Colorado’s ruling.
As Breitbart News reported on Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled “in a 4-3 opinion that the Constitution’s ‘Insurrection Clause’ prohibits former President Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot for the presidency in 2024.”
“The court found by clear and convincing evidence that President Trump engaged in insurrection as those terms are used in Section Three” of the Fourteenth Amendment, the ruling read.
The ruling will partially reverse a previous ruling from Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace, who ruled in November that the Fourteenth Amendment would not apply in the case of former President Trump, being that he is not an officer of the United States as was defined at the time of the amendment’s ratification following the Civil War.
On Wednesday, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows was reported to be seeking options on whether or not to exclude Trump from the state’s primary ballot in March. Last week, for instance, attorneys seeking to bar Trump from the ballot argued with Trump’s legal team at the State House hearing.
“The challengers have the burden of providing sufficient evidence to invalidate the petition,” Bellows’s office said in a statement last week. “At the hearing there will be an opportunity for both the challengers and the candidate to present oral testimony of witnesses as well as additional documentary evidence, and to make oral argument pertaining to the challenge in light of that evidence.”
The complaint filed in Maine claims that former President Trump “engaged in insurrection” on January 6 and is “now ineligible to hold any office, civil or military, under the United States.”
“Trump is not eligible to hold the office of President of the United States, his declaration is false, and his consent and primary petitions are void,” it added.
“Despite knowing the risk of violence and that the crowd was angry and armed, Trump incited violence [in a pre-insurrection speech] both explicitly and implicitly,” the Maine complaint said. “He repeatedly called out [then-Vice President Mike] Pence, told the crowd to ‘fight like hell’ and used other variations of ‘fight’ 20 times, repeatedly insisted that ‘we’ (including the agitated crowd) could not let the certification [of Joe Biden’s victory] happen, and promised that he would march with them to the Capitol.”
Trump’s legal team has objected to the charges, arguing that he called for protesters to “peacefully and patriotically” let their voices be heard.
Whatever Bellows decides, her ruling will likely be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.
In California, Lieutenant Gov. Eleni Kounalakis sent a letter on Wednesday to Secretary of State Shirley Weber to explore options on taking the former president’s name off the ballot. Kounalakis cited the Colorado ruling, saying it “is about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of our democracy.” She added that the court’s decision “can be the basis for a similar decision here in our state. The constitution is clear: you must be 35 years old and not be an insurrectionist.”
“California must stand on the right side of history,” the letter said.
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
