POLITICS
Michigan Supreme Court Declines To Hear Case To Remove Trump From Primary Ballot
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The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hear a case seeking to remove former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot.
The court’s order, issued Wednesday, upholds a Michigan Court of Appeals ruling issued earlier this month. The decision blocks efforts to remove Trump from the 2024 primary ballot based on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states that no one who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” after swearing an oath to uphold the Constitution can hold office.
The court said it declined to hear the case because it is “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court.”
The ruling follows the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision last week to bar Trump’s candidacy in the state’s primary on constitutional grounds.
In a dissenting opinion, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Welch noted that the state’s election laws significantly differ from Colorado’s, which limits candidacy to qualified candidates. Michigan’s Secretary of State is not legally required to confirm a candidate’s eligibility, and is not legally permitted to remove a candidate from the ballot once their name has been put forward by a political party.
Welch wrote that although she would uphold the appeals court’s decision, prior case law points to the possibility that political parties could be considered limited purpose state actors subject to the Fourteenth Amendment. But while political parties may be required to comply with the Constitution’s eligibility requirements when putting forward candidates, no political party is a party to this litigation.
TMX contributed to this article.
