USA TODAY International Edition
Michigan court keeps Trump on ballot
Justices: Choice belongs to the political parties
WASHINGTON − Michigan’s highest court sided with former President Donald Trump on Wednesday in the latest lawsuit challenging whether he can appear on a state’s ballot or whether he disqualified himself by inciting the mob that stormed the U. S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In a brief order, the Michigan Supreme Court rejected an appeal over a lower court’s decision that parties can place whichever candidates they choose on presidential primary ballots. The justices were “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court,” according to the order.
The Michigan court ruling was the latest to go Trump’s way on the legal fight surrounding 2024 ballots. Only Colorado’s top court has ruled that Trump, the GOP front- runner, should not appear on that state’s ballot. Trump is expected to appeal that decision to the U. S. Supreme Court in coming days, which could resolve the question raised in dozens of similar lawsuits across the country.
Liberal groups are filing the lawsuits under a provision of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution that disqualifies certain officials who take part in an insurrection from holding office again. Trump has dismissed the lawsuits as politically motivated.
Trump described the suit in a statement shared on social media as a “Desperate Democrat attempt to take the leading Candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election, me, off the ballot.” The former president has dismissed the lawsuits as political and long claimed without evidence that they are a coordinated effort by Democrats.
Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech For People, the group that filed the appeal in the Michigan case, said he was disappointed by the decision.
“However, 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,” he said.