Maine, in the northeastern United States, has become in the second state to expel former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), pre-candidate for the 2024 elections, of the Republican primaries in that state, for his role in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In a document shared by several American media outlets, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced the decision, claiming that Trump cannot participate in the elections for having participated in an “insurrection.”

Bellows’ decision comes a week after The Colorado Supreme Court, in a historic move, ruled in favor of expelling the Republican from his party’s primaries. The Maine Secretary of State, like the Colorado Supreme Court, appeals to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits people who have participated in an insurrection from holding elected office.

The amendment on which it is based

That amendment was approved in 1868, after the civil war in the United States, to prevent people associated with the southern rebels of the Confederacy from coming to power. “I am aware that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of access to the polls based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Bellows wrote in the document shared by American media.

“However, I am also aware that “No presidential candidate has ever participated in an insurrection before.”, Bellows highlighted. The Republican Party of Colorado decided on Wednesday to appeal to the US Supreme Court the decision to disqualify Trump from the elections in this state.

On January 6, 2021, thousands of President Trump’s supporters They stormed the US Capitol while legislators were in the process of certifying the results of the elections that gave victory to the current president, Joe Biden.