Secretary of state rules Donald Trump is ineligible for office: Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Don Jr., Alex Jones and more react
 

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On Dec. 28, 2023, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows -- after a bipartisan group of former state lawmakers filed a challenge against Donald Trump's eligibility for office based on the 14th Amendment's "insurrectionist ban" -- announced a decision to remove the former president from the state's 2024 ballot.

"I do not reach this conclusion lightly," she wrote of her decision. "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 decision came days after Colorado's Supreme Court issued a 4-3 ruling declaring that the likely Republican presidential nominee for 2024 is ineligible for office because he engaged in an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.