Election law expert on legal and political questions as states block Trump from ballot – PBS NewsHour

Geoff Bennett:

Rick Hasen joins us now. He's an election law expert and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA's Law School.

Rick, thank you for being with us.

So, Maine joins Colorado now in barring Donald Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment. The process in Maine, where the secretary of state determines eligibility, is very different from the process in Colorado, where that was decided by that state Supreme Court.

But through what reasoning and on what judgment do both decisions rest?

Rick Hasen, UCLA School of Law: Well, you're right that the decision in Maine started administratively, but it's clear it's going to go to the courts and will ultimately be resolved by state courts and maybe the U.S. Supreme Court.

The issue in both cases is the same. It's whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars from future office those officeholders who had pledged an oath to support the Constitution, but then engaged in insurrection or supported the U.S.' enemies, they would be disqualified from serving.

And so there's a bunch of legal questions. Does this apply to the president, the office of the president? There's also the question of whether Trump engaged in insurrection. That's more of a factual question. The secretary of state in Maine pretty much followed the reasoning of the Colorado Supreme Court in the earlier decision in finding that Trump is disqualified from serving in office.

It's something that involves complex, novel questions from a part of the Constitution that really was put in place after the Civil War and hasn't been used in recent times.

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Election law expert on legal and political questions as states block Trump from ballot - PBS NewsHour