A judge in Maine placed on hold the state’s attempt to remove Donald Trump from the ballot, saying the outcome of the former president’s appeal depended on a ruling by the US supreme court on a similar effort in Colorado.
“The court concludes that it lacks authority to stay judicial proceedings as requested by President Trump,” the Maine superior court justice, Michaela Murphy, wrote in an opinion released on Wednesday.
“The court concludes, however, that it does have authority … to remand the matter to the secretary [of state] and order her to issue a new ruling once the supreme court issues its decision.”
The supreme court is due to hear oral arguments in the Colorado case on 8 February. In Colorado and Maine, the 2024 presidential primaries are scheduled for 5 March.
Murphy said her decision would “minimise any potentially destabilising effect of inconsistent decisions and will promote greater predictability in the weeks ahead of the primary election”.
The two attempts to remove Trump from the ballot are based on the 14th amendment to the US constitution, which was passed after the civil war and which, in article three, bars former Confederates from running for office.
Claimants in various states have said Trump should be barred because he incited the deadly attack on Congress of 6 January 2021, in an attempt to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden at the polls the year before.
Many such lawsuits were thrown out. But in Colorado, state courts ruled that Trump should be removed from the ballot. In Maine, the Democratic secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, made the decision herself.
Bellows did not immediately comment on the decision in Maine on Wednesday.
Trump dominates the Republican presidential primary, despite facing 91 criminal charges in four cases and assorted civil suits as well as the moves to bar him from the ballot.
He appealed the Maine decision in state court and the Colorado decision at the US supreme court.
His lawyers argued that the 14th amendment does not apply, as the presidency and vice-presidency are not mentioned in the text.
Trump supporters – and some opponents – have also said barring him from office under the 14th amendment, after he was impeached for inciting January 6 but acquitted in the US Senate, would be undemocratic.
Other observers have said that the 14th amendment does cover the presidency – with exchanges in debate during the ratification process suggesting it does – and contend that allowing Trump to run would itself undermine democracy.
For now, Trump remains on the ballot in Maine. In each of his presidential campaigns, he was won one of four electoral college votes in Maine, one of only two states to allow for splitting such prizes.
