Maine Superior Court issues a stay on state's decision to bar Trump from primary ballot

The Maine Superior Court issued a stay of the secretary of state’s decision to remove former President Donald Trump from the state's Republican primary ballot pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Trump appealed Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows' ruling earlier this month, but the court on Wednesday said it will not consider the matter until the high court issues its own decision in a related case out of Colorado, saying it would be "imprudent" for the court to rule on it before then. 

TRUMP APPEALS DECISION TO BAN HIM FROM MAINE BALLOT

The court denied Trump’s motion to "supplement the record" and denied his motion to "stay proceedings," but also "stays the secretary of state’s ruling, pending the decision by the Supreme Court."

The court remanded the matter to the secretary "for further proceedings as necessary in light of the United States Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision in Trump v. Anderson."

"As part of this remand, the secretary is ordered to await the Supreme Court’s decision in Anderson, and no later than thirty days after Anderson’s issuance, to issue a new Ruling modifying, withdrawing, or confirming her prior Ruling dated December 28, 2023," the court ruled.

A ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court in December removed Trump from the ballot there under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Colorado is a Democratic-leaning state that is not expected to be competitive for Republicans in November.

Trump is expected to appeal the ruling of the Colorado Supreme Court directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. The nation’s highest court has never issued a decision on Section 3, and the Colorado court’s 4-3 ruling that it applied to Trump was the first time in history the provision was used to block a presidential candidate from appearing on the ballot.

Similar battles are playing out in other states, where activists have asked election officials to remove the former president from their states' primary ballots under Section 3 of the 14th amendment.

Fox News' Andrew Fone and Greg Wehner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.