Maine Supreme Court won't rule on Trump ballot eligibility until SCOTUS decision

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Maine's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to remove former President Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot before the U.S. Supreme Court can weigh in on his eligibility.

The court unanimously agreed Wednesday with a lower court's decision that told Bellows that she could not follow through with her decision to remove Trump from the ballot until the nation's highest court rules on a decision in Colorado, which agreed that Trump could be blocked.

Maine's high court appeared to acknowledge in its 19-page ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court will make the final decision on Trump's eligibility to appear on the ballot.

"Because the appeal is not from a final judgment, we dismiss the appeal as interlocutory and not justiciable," Maine's court said.

"Requiring a final judgment in this situation serves the interests of justice; enhances administrative and judicial efficiency; averts our insurance of what would likely be, at least in some part, an advisory opinion; and it allows for true and effective decision-making when the matter is ripe."

Bellows had appealed a decision by Kennebee County Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy who declined to rule on whether Trump should be rejected for the GOP primary ballot because of the so-called "insurrection clause" of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

At that time, Murphy told Bellows she should wait until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in because of conflicting court opinions in other states. While Colorado ruled that Trump was ineligible, the legal strategy pushed by liberal activists has been rejected in other states.

The Trump campaign called Bellows, a Democrat, a biased decision maker and said her decision against Trump's eligibility was arbitrary.