缅因州国务卿纳什·贝罗斯裁定，前总统唐纳德·特朗普没有资格出现在该州2024年共和党初选中。
民主党人贝罗斯就缅因州选民提出的三项挑战做出了决定，其中包括三名政界人士，他们对特朗普在共和党初选中的提名申请提出了质疑。
波纹管支持基于第14修正案第3节寻求禁止特朗普投票的两项挑战。她拒绝了一项取决于第22修正案的提案
“我的结论是，特朗普先生的初选申请无效，”贝罗斯在她的决定中写道。“具体来说，我发现他的候选人同意书上的声明是虚假的，因为根据第十四修正案第三节，他没有资格担任总统职务。”
贝罗斯在她的决定中继续说，“记录表明，特朗普先生在几个月的时间里，在2021年1月6日达到高潮，利用选举欺诈的虚假陈述煽动他的支持者，并指引他们前往国会大厦，以阻止2020年选举的认证和权力的和平转移。我同样得出结论，特朗普知道暴力的可能性，至少最初支持使用暴力，因为他既用煽动性的言论鼓励暴力，又没有及时采取行动阻止暴力。”
贝罗斯得出结论，特朗普“偶尔要求暴徒保持和平并支持执法”并没有“免疫他的行为”。短暂的守法呼吁并不能抹去几个月来的行为，这种行为在他在椭圆广场的演讲中达到顶峰。证据的分量清楚地表明，特朗普知道他数月来努力使一场民主选举非法化所埋下的火种，然后选择点燃一根火柴，”她的决定写道。
在她的结论中，贝娄说，她“注意到”没有一位国务卿“根据第十四修正案第三节剥夺了总统候选人的投票权利。”
她继续说道:“然而，我也注意到，从来没有总统候选人参与过叛乱。我宣誓维护宪法是最重要的，根据缅因州的选举法，当面临第336条挑战时，我的职责是确保初选中出现的候选人有资格获得他们寻求的职位。”
她写道，鉴于本案涉及“压缩的时间框架、涉及的新宪法问题、本案的重要性以及即将到来的投票准备截止日期”，贝罗斯暂停了她的决定的“影响”，直到缅因州高级法院对任何上诉做出裁决。
特朗普竞选发言人张致恒在决定做出后立即发表声明称，他们将“迅速在州法院提出法律异议”
他接着称贝洛斯为“一个”超党派支持拜登的民主党人他决定干涉总统选举。"
周四晚上的裁决使缅因州成为美国第二个根据第14修正案第3节取消特朗普寻求共和党总统候选人提名的州。
科罗拉多州是唯一一个将他排除在初选投票之外的州，尽管州最高法院的决定被推迟到2024年1月4日，因为科罗拉多州共和党周三晚上将法院12月19日的命令上诉到美国最高法院。
贝洛斯周四在她的命令中承认最高法院即将做出裁决，以及这将如何影响她的决定:
“虽然我知道我的决定可能很快就会被安德森的美国最高法院的一项裁决宣布无效，但这种可能性并不能解除我采取行动的责任，”贝罗斯写道。
特朗普在各州和联邦法院面临十几项关于他在第14修正案下的投票资格的测试，约有15个州的挑战或上诉悬而未决。缅因州是第一个允许州务卿裁决异议的州。
Maine secretary of state rules Trump ineligible for state's 2024 primary ballot
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has ruled that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to appear on the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot.
Bellows, a Democrat, issued her decision on three challenges brought by Maine voters, including three politicians, over the nomination petition of Trump for the GOP primary.
Bellows upheld the two challenges that sought to bar Trump from the ballot based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. She rejected one that hinged on the 22nd Amendment
“I conclude that Mr. Trump's primary petition is invalid,” Bellows wrote in her decision. “Specifically, I find that the declaration on his candidate consent form is false because he is not qualified to hold the office of the President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
Bellows went on to say in her decision that "the record establishes that Mr. Trump, over the course of several months and culminating on January 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol to prevent certification of the 2020 election and the peaceful transfer of power. I likewise conclude that Mr. Trump was aware of the likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop it."
Bellows concluded that Trump's "occasional requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement" did not "immunize his actions. A brief call to obey the law does not erase conduct over the course of months, culminating in his speech on the Ellipse. The weight of the evidence makes clear that Mr. Trump was aware of the tinder laid by his multi-month effort to delegitimize a democratic election, and then chose to light a match," her decision read.
In her conclusion, Bellow said she was "mindful" no secretary of state had "deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment."
She continued: "I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection. The oath I swore to uphold the Constitution comes first above all, and my duty under Maine's election laws, when presented with a Section 336 challenge, is to ensure that candidates who appear on the primary ballot are qualified for the office they seek."
Bellows suspended "the effect" of her decision until Maine's Superior Court rules on any appeal, given the "compressed timeframe, the novel constitutional questions involved, the importance of this case, and impending ballot preparation deadlines," involved in the case, she wrote.
In a statement immediately following the decision, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said they would "quickly file a legal objection in state court."
He went on to call Bellows a "hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democratwho has decided to interfere in the presidential election."
The ruling on Thursday evening makes Maine the second state in the nation to disqualify Trump from seeking the GOP presidential nomination under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Coloradois the only other state to rule him off its primary ballot, though the state Supreme Court’s decision has been stayed until Jan. 4, 2024, because the Colorado Republican Party appealed the court's Dec. 19 order to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday night.
Bellows acknowledged an impending Supreme Court ruling and how it could impact her decision in her order Thursday:
"While I am cognizant of the fact that my decision could soon be rendered a nullity by a decision of the United States Supreme Court in Anderson, that possibility does not relieve me of my responsibility to act," Bellows wrote.
Trump is facing more than a dozen tests over his ballot eligibility under the 14th Amendment in various state and federal courts, with challenges or appeals pending in about 15 states. Maine is the first state to allow its secretary of state to rule on a challenge.
