The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hear a case seeking to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot. This rejection by the Michigan Supreme Court comes after Colorado’s landmark ruling to ban Trump from appearing on the state’s 2024 presidential ballot.
“The Michigan Supreme Court said it would not hear an appeal from four voters in the state seeking to bar the former president from the Feb. 27 Republican primary for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol,” per Reuters.
The arguments against Trump are grounded in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. This section prohibits individuals from serving in federal office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion,” especially after having sworn an oath to uphold it.
“We are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court,” the Michigan Supreme Court Justices said in an order.
Trump posted to Truth Social following Michigan’s decision, “The Michigan Supreme Court has strongly and rightfully denied the Desperate Democrat attempt to take the leading Candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election, me, off the ballot in the Great State of Michigan.”
However, not everyone shared the same sentiments. Ron Fein, the legal director of Free Speech For People, a nonprofit organization in the United States that also helped file the lawsuit in Michigan, said in a statement, “We are disappointed by the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision.”
Fein added, “The Michigan Supreme Court did not rule out that the question of Donald Trump’s disqualification for engaging in insurrection against the U.S. Constitution may be resolved at a later stage. The decision isn’t binding on any court outside Michigan, and we continue our current and planned legal actions in other states to enforce Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment against Donald Trump.”
According to a database managed by Lawfare, over a dozen states are currently engaged in similar legal proceedings against Trump.
Contrary to the situation in Colorado, the Michigan Supreme Court did not rule on whether Trump was involved in an insurrection. Instead, the justices supported the decisions of lower courts, which concluded that it’s not the role of the state courts to determine this issue for the primary election.
“The question of Mr. Trump’s eligibility is widely expected to be answered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Some form of challenge to Mr. Trump’s eligibility has been lodged in more than 30 states,” per The New York Times.