Trump’s team is preparing to appeal voting decisions soon
Former President Donald J. Trump’s advisers are preparing on Tuesday to file appeals against decisions in Colorado and Maine to disqualify Mr. Trump from the Republican primary over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, a person familiar said with the matter.
In Maine, a challenge to the secretary of state’s decision to block Mr. Trump from voting will be filed in state court. But the Colorado decision, made by that state’s highest court, will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is likely to come under new pressure to weigh in on the issue.
On Thursday, Maine became the second state to keep Mr. Trump off the primary ballot due to challenges arising from Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which states that any official of the United States who takes an oath to uphold the Constitution can’t do this. “have been guilty of insurrection or rebellion against the same, or have given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
“Every state is different,” Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told a local CBS affiliate Friday morning. “I took an oath to uphold the Constitution. I have fulfilled my duty.”
Mr. Trump has privately told some people that he believes the Supreme Court will overwhelmingly rule against the Colorado and Maine decisions, according to a person familiar with what he said. But he has also been critical of the Supreme Court, where he appointed three conservative justices, creating a supermajority. The court has generally shown little interest in Trump’s election cases.
Mr. Trump has expressed concern that conservative justices will worry about being seen as “political” and rule against him, according to a person with direct knowledge of his personal comments.
Unlike the Colorado decision, which surprised many on Trump’s team, the former president’s advisers had been anticipating the Maine outcome for several days. They prepared a statement ahead of the decision and had the bulk of their appeal filed after the consolidated hearing that Ms. Bellows held on Dec. 15, according to a person close to Mr. Trump.
The people who have filed voting challenges have generally argued that Mr. Trump incited an insurrection when he encouraged supporters whose elections he insisted were stolen to march on the Capitol as the 2020 election vote was being certified. The former president has been indicted on charges related to the eventual attack on the Capitol, but he has not been criminally charged with “insurrection,” a point his allies have repeatedly made.
On his social media site, Truth Social, Mr. Trump has highlighted comments from Democrats who have suggested they are uncomfortable with the voting decisions.
In Maine, the move was made unilaterally by Ms. Bellows after objections were filed. Trump allies have repeatedly emphasized Ms. Bellows’ ties to the Democratic Party and the fact that she is not an elected official but an appointed official.
The twin decisions have created uncertain terrain in the Republican nominating contest, with primary states’ elections set to begin on January 15 with the Iowa caucuses. More ballot challenges may be filed in other states, though several have failed so far.
This week, a complaint from Wisconsin seeking to remove Mr. Trump from the ballot there was dismissed, and California’s secretary of state said Mr. Trump would remain on the ballot in that state. According to the website Lawfare, there are active lawsuits in 14 states seeking to impeach Mr. Trump, with more expected to follow. A decision in an Oregon case is expected soon.
The decisions in Colorado and Maine require an additional focus of resources and attention for a Trump team already spread thinly among four criminal charges in four different states.
But two people close to Mr. Trump, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, described that reality as already ingrained in a Trump team that has spent most of the past two years focused on legal issues. They argued that the former president would see short-term political benefits along the lines of what he saw when he was indicted: a rallying effect among Republicans.
Mr. Trump and his team have tried to wrap these things up into a single narrative that Democrats are engaged in a “witch hunt” against him, and they have used the election indictment to suggest that Democrats are interfering in elections — an attempt to reverse the elections. the tables given that Trump’s months-long efforts to undermine the 2020 election are at the heart of legal and political arguments against him.
“Democrats in blue states are recklessly and unconstitutionally suspending the civil rights of American voters by attempting to summarily remove President Trump’s name from ballots,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to The New York Times.
Voting results have become another focus for the mainstream and conservative news media, consuming the time and attention that Trump’s main rivals, who trail him by wide margins in the polls, need in the hope of catching up.
Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey and one of those challenging Trump for the nomination, told CNN that the decision “makes him a martyr,” adding: “He’s very good at playing ‘Poor me , poor me.’ He always complains.”
Due to a number of factors, it is unclear how much practical effect the efforts to remove Trump from the primaries will have on the Republican nominating contest. In the case of Colorado, where the state’s highest court reversed a lower court ruling and declared Mr. Trump ineligible to contest the primary, he remains on the ballot while he asks the Supreme Court to intervene.