Candidates intending to run for office must be judged fit to appear on the ballot. For president, a candidate must be at least 35 years old, and be a citizen of the U.S., this according to the U.S. Constitution.

The 14th Amendment makes clear another requirement: “No person … who, having previously taken an oath … as an officer of the United States … 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.”

Maine Republicans call this a conspiracy because former President Donald Trump is being considered for disqualification after losing in 2020 and then engaging in a multi-prong effort to overturn the 2020 election. He must be disqualified for acting in rebellion against our constitutional order.

Don’t take my word for it. Federalist Society constitutional scholars William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen argue for Trump’s disqualification in “The Sweep and Force of Section Three,” an article available for download online.

Trump is an insurrectionist still promoting his Big Lie, posting on social media that 2020 was a “massive fraud” that, in his own words, “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” Enemies of the Constitution must not be allowed to run for an office requiring an oath to that Constitution.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Attorney General Aaron Frey must remove Trump from the 2024 ballot. It’s their duty.

Stephen Demetriou
Waldoboro

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