CNN legal expert Elie Honig ripped Maine’s secretary of state after she decided late Thursday to remove former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential ballot, citing the “insurrection” clause of the 14th Amendment.
Honig, during a show segment following the ruling, said Bellows based her decision on “YouTube clips, news reports” and other “things that would never pass the bar in normal court.”
After Maine became the second state to bar Trump from the ballot following Colorado’s lead, CNN anchor John Berman asked Honig during a show segment: “The 14th Amendment, Section 3 says in plain text that if you shall have engaged in insurrection, you can’t be in office. She takes that to mean that if she determines that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection, he can’t be on the Maine primary ballot. Is it that simple?”
“No, it’s not that simple,” Honig responded. “So, clearly, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment says, ‘Engage in insurrection, you’re out.’ We all have that. The complicated part, and where we are going to see this play out in the courts, is who gets to decide and by what process.”
He also explained that it’s “important to note” Bellows’ ruling “says she’s basically following the same legal reasoning as the Colorado Supreme Court did last week, and she says in her ruling if this gets struck down in Colorado, we’re out of luck too. So she’s basing it on the same legal argument.”
“Let me sort of lay out the arguments on both sides,” he continued. “And by the way, it’s worth saying, we’re all theorizing here. We’re in legally unknown territory. The argument against is, first of all, the 14th Amendment Section 5 says Congress has the authority to pass laws to implement this. They did, they passed the criminal law, and the argument is that means Congress, not the states.
“But perhaps, and this is the argument that the Maine secretary of state and Colorado made, the states can do it too. If that’s true, then section 2– question two is, were the processes, were the hearings fair? Did they comport with due process?” Honig continued.
CNN's legal expert Elie Honig destroys Maine secretary of state for decision to boot Trump off '24 ballot. pic.twitter.com/Nrs5Rfza9e
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) December 29, 2023
“And I think there’s a question there with regard to what Maine did because if you look at the hearing, and she details this in the ruling, they heard from one fact witness, a law professor,” he added. “She based her ruling on a lot of documents, but also YouTube clips, news reports, things that would never pass the bar in normal court.
“She’s not a lawyer, by the way. It’s a smartly written decision, clearly consulted with lawyers, but this is an unelected– she’s chosen by the state legislature. Chosen, elected by the legislature, but not democratically elected,” Honig continued.
He added that he believes the U.S. Supreme Court is now even more likely to take up the issue, and quickly, now that there are differences of opinion between states on the question of Trump being qualified to run again next year.
