Maine’s top election official ejected former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot on Thursday, declaring him ineligible to serve as president because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress.
The ruling by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, is certain to inflame a roaring national debate over whether the Republican presidential frontrunner should be allowed to hold power again.
The decision makes Maine the second state in two weeks to disqualify Trump’s candidacy due to the constitutional bar on officeholders who supported or “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” Last week the Colorado Supreme Court barred Trump from the state’s Republican primary ballot under a similar interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
It's one thing for a judiciary (i.e. Colorado Supreme Court) to rule on legal matters since it's, y'know, what they do. But even they still have a check due to higher courts occasionally being asked to scrutinize legal opinions. But for a member of a state's Executive Branch to unilaterally decide legal matters concerning a federal election???? If that's allowed to stand, we are truly entering banana republic territory.
Lately I find myself wondering on a daily basis what this country will look like twelve months from now. Let's just say that I've yet to conjure up a scenario where America will actually be better off.
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1 comment:
Perhaps you can conjure up a scenario where America is worse off, such as if Biden wins? ANY other scenario would, I think, be relatively better. This election will be for the lesser of two evils, as some perceive it. That does not make it a 3-way between two evils and some mythical "good." "You pays your money and you takes yer choice" is the old saying. Fortunately for me it's easy.
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