Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump attends a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa, US December 19, 2023.
Scott Morgan | Reuters
The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an attempt to remove former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot.
The court in Michigan ruled against the liberal group Free Speech For People’s appeal to block Trump from running for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, storming the US Capitol.
Michigan, a key electoral battleground, has helped decide the past two presidential elections, for Trump in 2016 and President Joe Biden in 2020.
State courts across the US are dealing with similar cases trying to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendmenta constitutional clause that prohibition those who engage in insurrectionary activity from holding office.
The Michigan high court’s decision comes more than a week after the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from that state’s primary ballot. Colorado is the only state so far that has decided in favor of banning Trump from its 2024 ballot.
That decision overruled the Michigan court, which noted in its opinion that “Colorado’s election laws differ from Michigan’s laws in a material way.”
Furthermore, the Colorado Supreme Court delayed the decision from taking effect until January 4, giving Trump time to appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court, which his campaign had promised to do. The US high court has never ruled on the meaning of Section 3.
Free Speech For People also tried to get Trump off the ballot in Minnesota whose Supreme Court, like Michigan, rejected the case.
The Michigan court’s decision Wednesday upholds an earlier ruling from a state Court of Claims judge, who said election officials cannot dictate the eligibility of a primary presidential candidate.
It also said Trump did not violate state election laws when he filed to run in the primary.
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