California and Maine are now considering ways to prevent former President Trump from appearing on their state ballots following a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that barred Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot due to the “Insurrection Clause.”
Maine’s Secretary of State is exploring options to exclude Trump from the primary ballot, while California’s Lieutenant Governor has sent a letter to the Secretary of State to explore similar actions, citing the Colorado ruling and emphasizing the need to honor the rule of law and protect democracy.
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.” (Trending: Assault Weapons Ban Set To Take Effect, Here’s What To Know)
“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 stated.
“The challengers have the burden of providing sufficient evidence to invalidate the petition,” Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ office stated.
“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 Maine complaint states that Trump “engaged in insurrection” 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 stated.
“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 complaint added.
“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.”
Lieutenant Gov. Eleni Kounalakis wrote a letter to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber to pursue the same, saying it “is about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of our democracy.”
She noted that Colorado’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 added.
Trump’s legal team has objected to the charges, arguing that he called for peaceful protest. Both states’ decisions are likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Most Popular:
Devastating News For Hunter Biden After Defying Subpoena
Ousted Democrat Who Filmed Explicit Tape Blames Homophobia
Obama Reveals His Fear For Joe Ahead Of 2024
