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A day after former president Trump's lawyers demanded the Maine secretary of state recuse herself from her upcoming decision on the former president’s ballot eligibility under the 14th Amendment – citing her past statements about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot; Shenna Bellows – a Democrat – has kicked Trump off the state's primary ballot.

The letter from Trump's lawyers seeking Bellows' recusal cites two social media posts Bellows issued the day Trump was acquitted in his second impeachment trial, which concerned the Capitol riot.

The letter also takes aim at a post Bellows issued on the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6, in which she reposted a news report highlighting Bellows’s efforts to protect election workers.

Thus, the lawyers argued, Bellows "has already passed judgment" on Trump's "core assumptions."

But, as The Hill reports, unlike other states, where plaintiffs have sued over Trump’s eligibility in court, Maine’s system first allows the secretary of state to weigh in – unilaterally, Judge Dredd-style.

Challengers can then appeal in state court.

Bellows determined that the former president could not run for office due to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. She argued his actions violated the 14th Amendment.

Maine is now the second state to bar the president citing 14th Amendment claims, following Colorado's Supreme Court decision.

As we noted previously, the question will ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court, which constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley says "will be overturned because it is wrong on the history and the language of the 14th Amendment."

On the other side of the ledger, judges (not Secretaries of State) have thrown out 14th Amendment challenges in Michigan and West Virginia.

As a reminder, Maine has only four electoral votes but it’s one of two states to split them, and Trump won one of Maine's electors in 2020.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement that:

Cheung added that the former president's legal team "will quickly file a legal objection in state court to prevent this atrocious decision in Maine from taking effect."