Former President Donald Trump has been removed from Maine’s 2024 primary ballot for his supposed role in the Jan. 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol Building.

On Thursday, Maine's Democrat Secretary of State decided that the former president was ineligible to seek office under Section Three of the 14^th Amendment.

Maine’s Democratic secretary of state on Thursday removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause, becoming the first election official to take action unilaterally in a decision that has potential Electoral College consequences.

While Maine has just four electoral votes, it’s one of two states to split them. Trump won one of Maine’s electors in 2020, so having him off the ballot there should he emerge as the Republican general election candidate could have outsized implications in a race that is expected to be narrowly decided.

The move comes about a week after Colorado’s Supreme Court voted to remove Trump from the ballot under the 14^th Amendment, although that decision was stayed Thursday. The state Republican party has vowed to take the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, another effort to influence the outcome of the 2024 election by removing the former president from the ballot in Michigan failed.

On Wednesday, Michigan's Supreme Court reached a decidedly different conclusion.

A liberal-leaning group had appealed a state appeals court ruling that concluded, regardless of whether the 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump from holding office, Michigan’s secretary of state lacks the legal authority to remove him from the ballot.

The state’s highest court, controlled by Democrats, let that lower ruling stand, saying in an unsigned order that it was “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.”

One day before Maine joined Colorado in using the legal system to potentially interfere in the upcoming presidential election, Trump demanded that Maine’s secretary of state recuse herself from influencing the decision.

Now, Trump's legal team is speaking out about Bellows' previous statements on social media regarding   Jan.6, 2021 — and Trump:

Former President Trump on Wednesday demanded the Maine secretary of state recuse herself from her upcoming decision on the former president’s ballot eligibility under the 14th Amendment, citing her past statements about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.[...]

On Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers wrote Bellows a letter demanding she disqualify herself over three tweets she previously issued referencing Jan. 6, including those in which she described the attack as an insurrection.

The letter continued:

Using similar language, the Challengers have claimed that the events of January 6, 2021, constituted a violent insurrection and that President Trump somehow poses a danger from which Maine voters must be protected. Thus, the Secretary has already passed judgment on the Challengers’ core assertions.

Maine is now the second state whose officials have resorted to using the 14^th Amendment in this fashion. Section 3 of the amendment disallows people from holding office if they have been involved in a rebellion against the government. It was originally created to apply to former members of the Confederacy. But now, Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans have been leveraging it against Trump due to his candidacy for the White House.

The politically-motivated effort has met with criticism coming from the right and at this point, it seems inevitable that the matter will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

UPDATE: You can read the full statement from the Maine SoS's office here. 

Decision in Challenge to Trump Presidential Primary Petitions by Jennifer Van Laar on Scribd

Bellows' statement read, in part: 

As detailed in the decision, Secretary Bellows concluded that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid. Specifically, the Secretary ruled 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.

In the decision, Secretary Bellows said,

“I conclude… 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.

“Mr. Trump’s occasional requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement do 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.”

[...]

"I do not reach this conclusion lightly. Democracy is sacred… I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. 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.

The events of January 6, 2021 were unprecedented and tragic. They were an attack not only upon the Capitol and government officials, but also an attack on the rule of law. The evidence here demonstrates that they occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of, the outgoing President. The U.S. Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government, and Section 336 requires me to act in response."

The challenger or candidate may appeal this decision by commencing an action in the Superior Court within five days of this date, pursuant to 21-A MRSA section 337, subsection 2, paragraph D.

Given the compressed timeframe, the novel constitutional questions involved, the importance of this case, and impending ballot preparation deadlines, Secretary Bellows has suspended the effect of her decision until the Superior Court rules on any appeal, or the time to appeal has expired.