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Jean Hay Bright, a political commentator and occasional candidate (she ran against U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe in 2006) is now a semi-retired farmer, living in Dixmont.
What is troubling me about the Feb. 8 U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing on the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to deny Donald Trump access to the presidential primary ballot in that state is that it seems woefully apparent that many of the justices have no clue how presidential candidates get on state ballots.
They questioned the propriety of one state (Colorado) by its actions possibly twisting the outcome of the election — lamenting how some states would agree but others would not, leading to a hodgepodge of voter options.
The justices do not appear to understand the basic fact that, under the U.S. Constitution, states are in charge of the process of getting candidates on the presidential ballots — and that every state has a different process.
In New Hampshire, plunk down $1,000 and your name appears on the presidential primary of your choice.
In Maine, candidates must get a certain number of voter signatures on petitions, have those signatures verified by each town where those signers vote, and submit all the verified petitions to the secretary of state’s office before a specific deadline. Miss the deadline, even by a few minutes, too bad. Or, get lots of signatures, but not enough town-verified, sorry. (In case you hadn’t heard, that’s why Chris Christie did not make it onto Maine’s Republican March 5 presidential primary ballot, and dropped out of the race shortly thereafter.)
Since political parties are not recognized in the U.S. Constitution, state laws prevail. And, wow, are they different. In some states, established political parties call the shots, simply declaring who their candidates are, often to the exclusion of other party candidates. Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips were not routinely included on Democratic primary ballots in those states.
That’s why third-party or independent candidates have such a hard time. It is nearly impossible for them to get on enough state ballots — let alone win — to collect the requisite 270 electoral votes to win nationally.
Instead, the Supreme Court should focus on the basics in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to get to where we need to go.
They should declare that the president is indeed an officer of the United States.
That the presidential oath to “preserve and protect” does call for the president to “support” the Constitution — in fact it suggests beyond supporting.
The justices should say they agree with the Colorado Supreme Court that the Jan. 6 Capitol riot qualifies as an insurrection, in its planning and attempts to overthrow the election.
Finally, the Supreme Court should agree with the finding of the Colorado Supreme Court that Donald Trump “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S., and/or had “given aid or comfort” to the insurrectionists.
And then the Supreme Court needs to step back and let the states do their thing.