Petitioners attempting to keep Donald Trump off Maine's presidential ballot next year made their case Friday to Secretary of State Shenna Bellows that the former president is disqualified for inciting an insurrection.
Attorneys representing Trump say the state has no jurisdiction over ballot access.
The disqualification effort mirrors challenges in 32 other states and most argue Trump should be kept off the ballot because he violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment by inciting the riot at the U.S. Capitol two years ago.
The section was ratified shortly after the Civil War to ensure that participants or enablers of the Confederate insurrection were barred from office unless Congress granted them amnesty.
But Gerard Magliocca, a constitutional scholar at Indiana University and a witness for the petitioners, says the provision applies to Trump and his efforts to halt the 2020 election certification on Jan. 6.
"The historical evidence that I looked leads me to the opinion that Section 3 insurrection is one that involves a group of people who use public violence to prevent or hinder the execution of the Constitution of the United States," he said.
Attorneys for Trump contested that interpretation, as they have in other states where Magliocca has testified.
They objected to Friday's entire proceeding, arguing that state election officials have minimal jurisdiction in determining candidate qualifications and even less interpreting the insurrection clause.
So far that argument has prevailed in litigation in Michigan, Minnesota and even Colorado where a judge ruled that Trump did engage in an insurrection, but that Section 3 referred only to candidates for Congress.
And a Maine court could ultimately determine whether Trump will be on the state ballot next year.
While Secretary Bellows is expected to make her decision by Dec. 22, her ruling could face a legal appeal.
One of the challenges was filed by three former elected officials in Maine: former Republican state Sens. Kimberley Rosen of Bucksport and Tom Saviello of Wilton and former Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling, a Democrat.
"The Constitution commands that, having sworn an oath to 'preserve, protect and defend' it, and then having desecrated that oath by directing a violent mob to storm the Capitol while Congress was performing a core constitutional function essential to the transition of power, Trump is ineligible to hold any office under the United States, least of all the office of President," reads the challenge filed by attorney Benjamin Gaines on behalf of the three.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Attorney General Aaron Frey had announced in Augustthat they would review Maine's ballot eligibility criteria in anticipation of potential challenges.
Maine voters will join their counterparts in more than a dozen states in casting votes in presidential primaries or caucuses on March 5, which is known as "Super Tuesday."
In addition to Trump, five other candidates qualified for the Republican presidential ballot in Maine. They are Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Doug Burgum and Ryan Binkley.
President Joe Biden faces one challenger, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, on Maine's primary ballot.
