Michigan Supreme Court Keeps Trump On Ballot

The Michigan Supreme Court rejected an attempt to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 primary ballot. This is a ruling made after the controversial decision by Colorado’s highest court to remove the former president from the ballot.

On Wednesday, Justice Elizabeth Welch rejected the plaintiffs’ attempt to take the leading 2024 Presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump, off the state ballot.

Michigan’s high court said it was “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court” after an earlier appeal sought to make Trump ineligible under the Insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Only one of the seven justices, Elizabeth Welch, dissented from the ruling, saying the court should have issued a ruling on the merits of the petition rather than jurisdiction.

Welch did affirm that Michigan’s Court of Appeals and Court of Claims were correct in ruling that the Michigan secretary of state could not determine whether a presidential candidate was eligible to be on the ballot.

Donald Trump, never having been charged nor convicted of insurrection, has made the allegation more political than of legal prosecution.

While the plaintiffs claimed Trump’s efforts to overturn former Vice President Joe President Biden’s victory that culminated on Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot is evidence that he unconstitutionally “engaged in the insurrection”, the judge argued the plaintiffs should have been able “to renew their legal efforts as to the Michigan general election later in 2024 should Trump become the Republican nominee for President of the United States or seek such office as an independent candidate.”

Those appellants had originally petitioned for the former president to be disqualified from Michigan’s Feb. 27 primary, but Welch also noted that no political parties had yet been included in the litigation.

Unlike the Colorado decision, Welch also said, “no analogous provision in the Michigan Election Law requires someone seeking the office of President of the United States to attest to their legal qualification to hold the office”, she said.

Welch affirmed that Michigan’s Court of Appeals and Court of Claims were correct in ruling that the secretary of state may not determine the eligibility of a presidential candidate over a political party.

On getting to be stayed on the 2024 primary ballot, Trump has since taken to Truth Social to express his thoughts about the ruling, urging his supporters to prevent the 2024 election from being rigged like the 2020’s.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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