On Thursday, John Dean, the former White House attorney for President Nixon, expressed his belief that overturning the decision in Maine to exclude former President Trump from the ballot would be challenging, describing it as “very solid.”
The decision was made by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) late Thursday, citing Trump’s conduct related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots as a violation of the 14th Amendment.
Dean criticized the Trump campaign for criticizing the choice and labeling it as “election interference.”
“There was ample due process in this proceeding, and they just lost by a straight, honest reading of the 14th Amendment,” Dean stated in a CNN interview. “Trump’s in trouble.”
The 14th Amendment prohibits individuals who have previously sworn oaths to uphold the Constitution and “have engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
Both Bellows and a recent decision by the Colorado Supreme Court concluded that Trump’s actions fall within this definition.
In addition, Bellows claimed that Trump “was aware of the likelihood of violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop it.” On January 6, Bellows claimed that Trump “used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters.”
The Trump campaign promised to challenge the ruling in Maine, and it is anticipated that the Supreme Court will address the Colorado case.
Dean expressed doubt that the Supreme Court would contradict either decision, emphasizing a straightforward interpretation of the amendment’s text.
“I want to see those strict constructionists and originalists get around that language,” he said. “How are they going to do it? I don’t know. It looks so applicable. I don’t know what they can do with it other than take [Trump] off the ballot.”
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