By Wonderwall.com Editors
10:58am PST, Jan 8, 2024
_
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.
On Jan. 5, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that it would step in and decide whether Trump is eligible to run for president — or not.
Keep reading to see how celebrities, politicians and rivals are reacting…
MORE: Follow Wonderwall on MSN for more celebrity & entertainment photo galleries and content
_
"Nikki will beat Trump fair and square. It should be up to voters to decide who gets elected." –a statement to The New York Times from the campaign of former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who's running for president as a Republican
_
"The Constitution makes it clear that Donald Trump should not be allowed to hold public office. But if he is allowed to remain on the ballot, the voters must make it clear." –Rob Reiner on X
_
"The power mad Democrats just took presidential front runner Trump off the ballot in the state of Maine! This is an attempted theft of the 2024 election in direct view of the watching World!! What will they try next?" –Alex Jones on X
_
"A random person in Maine decides one day that Trump shouldn't be on the ballot & there you go. It's unconstitutional. It's monarchical. It's anti-American. But it's happening. Time to wake up," Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wrote on X.
He also said in a statement to The New York Times, "This is what an actual threat to democracy looks like. The system is hellbent on taking this man out, the Constitution be damned."
_
"The Constitution is clear. Donald Trump is not qualified to hold the office of the President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. Section 3 of 14th Amendment: 'No person shall — hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who,having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature 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'" –Mia Farrow on X
_
"This is Maine's Secretary of State. She is interfering in the 2024 election to help the Biden administration. This is a dark time in American history. SCOTUS can't let this stand. Trump 2024!" –Kimberly Guilfoyle, who posted this on X alongside photos of Shenna Bellows in photos with former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden
_
"This is the individual barring President Trump from running for a second term. Will she be someday be indicted for interfering with a presidential election, or celebrated by the left for blocking the current leading candidate in the polls?" actor James Woods wrote on X alongside a January 2022 social media post from Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows that read, "The fundamental right of any American citizen to vote freely, fairly and to have their vote counted is the premise of our democracy. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not values to be compromised away. #FreedomToVoteAct"
_
"The Maine Secretary of State's decision to remove Trump from the ballot is reckless and partisan. I am confident the Supreme Court will reverse it." –House Speaker Mike Johnson
_
"This is who just removed Trump from the ballot in Maine." –Kevin Sorbo — who posted a photo of Maine's secretary of state running a half marathon while wearing a T-shirt that read "Democracy Defenders" — wrote on X
_
"The war against Trump has evolved into a war by the left against the American people. Over 1, 300,000 Coloradans voted for Trump in 2020. They are now stripped of their freedom. Trump carried the northern district of Maine,. They are now denied that right. Robert F Kennedy Jr and No Labels are both having rights denied by the totalitarian left. This is an assault on American freedom not on President Trump." –Newt Gingrich on X
_
–"Maine voters should decide who wins the election — not a Secretary of State chosen by the Legislature. The Secretary of State's decision would deny thousands of Mainers the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice, and it should be overturned." –Senator Susan Collins of Maine on X
_
"BREAKING: Maine State Rep. John Andrews has filed a request for a joint order to impeach Secretary of State Shenna Bellows following her efforts to remove former President Trump from the ballot," Antonio Sabato Jr. wrote on X. He also posted a photo of Maine's secretary of state posing for a photo with President Joe Biden and captioned it "What do you see?"
_
"Colorado had the fourth-highest overall crime rate in the country last year. Maine's heating oil prices continue to rise. But what are Democrats focused on in those states? Kicking President Trump off the ballot." –U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan on X
_
"I voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. I do not believe he should be re-elected as president of the United States. However, we are a nation of laws, therefore, until he is actually found guilty of the crime of insurrection, he should be allowed on the ballot." –U.S. Rep Jared Golden of Maine in a statement to The New York Times
