Maine Voters Challenge Trump’s Ballot Eligibility Under 14.3 Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause

Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, known as the Disqualification Clause, provides: “No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress. . . who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress . . . to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” The purpose of the Disqualification Clause, passed in the wake of the Civil War, was to protect the country.

Trump’s involvement in the coordinated and violent attack on the United States Capitol in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the election results on January 6, 2021, disqualifies him from holding future public office. State election officials do not need permission from Congress to enforce this, just as they do not need it to enforce the U.S. constitution in general.

A group of three challenges from individual Maine voters to Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on the state’s presidential primary ballot were received by the Maine Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows.

On December 15, 2023, Bellows held a hearing regarding these challenges. The Secretary of State decided that Donald Trump is disqualified from appearing on the Maine presidential primary and general election ballot. On January 2, 2024, Donald Trump appealed to the Kennebec County Superior Court.

On January 10, 2024, Free Speech For People filed an amicus brief urging the Kennebec County Superior Court to follow the insurrectionist clause, section 3 of the fourteenth amendment, which disqualifies Donald Trump’s 2024 candidacy. Our amicus brief also explains why the First Amendment does not shield Trump from disqualification under Section 3.

In 2022, Free Speech For People filed the first Section 3 challenges in 150 years against Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and former North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn, for their roles in the January 6th insurrection.

Although those challenges did not result in disqualification (Cawthorn’s because he lost his primary; Greene’s because the judge found insufficient factual evidence that she, personally, had engaged in the insurrection), they set important legal precedent for this challenge, including: that states have legal authority to adjudicate Section 3 challenges; that state processes for adjudicating Section 3 challenges do not violate a candidate’s constitutional rights; that no prior criminal conviction is required under Section 3 challenge; that words can constitute engaging in insurrection; and that an 1872 congressional amnesty for ex-Confederates does not apply to January 6.

On September 6, 2022, Judge Francis J. Matthew of New Mexico’s First District permanently enjoined Otero County Commissioner and “Cowboys for Trump” founder Couy Griffin from holding office under the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause.

In 2023 and 2024, Free Speech For People filed multiple 14.3 cases on behalf of voters in Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Oregon.

In parallel with but separately from this litigation, Free Speech For People and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund are co-leading a national campaign to ensure that election officials across the country follow the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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