A Michigan judge ruled Tuesday that former President Donald Trump can remain on the state’s primary ballot in 2024, dismissing one of several challenges to block a Trump candidacy by using an insurrection clause in the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit, led by the left-wing nonprofit Free Speech for Free Peoples, argues that Trump violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment in connection with the breach of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The clause prohibits anyone who has previously taken the oath. run for office if they have “participated in an insurrection or rebellion against the same, or have given aid or comfort to its enemies.”
But Michigan Court of Claims Judge James Redford reportedly saying that under state law, the secretary of state lacks authority to intervene in a primary election. The judge supposedly saying could not remove Trump from the primary ballot because the former president followed state law to qualify.
“The final decision is made by the respective political party, with the consent of the registered candidate,” the judge wrote.
Ron Fein, Free Speech For People’s legal director and attorney for the petitioners, said the group would appeal the ruling immediately.
“The Michigan Supreme Court should reverse this poorly reasoned decision by the lower court,” Fein said in a Press release. “While our appeal is pending, the trial court’s decision is not binding on any other court, and we continue our current and planned legal actions in other states to enforce Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment against Donald Trump.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung welcomed the judge’s decision in a statement.
“Each and every one of these ridiculous cases has been LOST because they are unconstitutional left-wing fantasies orchestrated by wealthy allies of the Biden campaign who seek to hand the election to the courts and deny the American people the right to choose their next candidate. President,” Cheung said in a statement, adding that he anticipated similar victories in similar attempts to knock Trump out of the primaries in other states.
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Efforts to remove Trump from state ballots using the insurrection clause have appeared in a series of lawsuits across the country by critics of the Republican front-runner.
According to the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University, American officials ratified the Amendment in 1868 after the Civil War during the Reconstruction Era, which was designed to represent a new birth of freedom for citizens previously deprived of their rights. rights.
Trump has criticized the lawsuits as “frivolous,” alleging that “radical Democratic dark money groups” are funding legal challenges to interfere with his bid to retake the White House in 2025.
“This is like a banana republic,” Trump told radio host Dan Bongino. “And what they are doing is what is called electoral interference. … Now the 14th Amendment is just a continuation of that. Has no sense.”
Last week, the Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed the left-wing group’s legal challenge, saying state law allows political parties to include anyone on a primary ballot.
Other groups in Arizona, Colorado and New Hampshire have also filed similar lawsuits against Trump. But last month, Colorado became the first state to take its challenge to trial under this constitutional measure, which has rarely been used in the past 150 years. A state judge has reportedly scheduled closing arguments for next week.
Legal experts reportedly expect the issue to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
