LANSING, Mich (WLNS) — The Michigan Supreme Court has decided to deny a request to hear an appeal to allow former President Donald Trump to be on the state's primary ballot.
According to Nexstar's The Hill, a liberal-leaning group had appealed a state appeals court ruling that concluded, regardless of whether the 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump from holding office, Michigan’s secretary of state lacks the legal authority to remove him from the ballot.
The state’s high court, ruled by Democrats, said in an order, seen below, that the appeal was considered, but denied “because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court.”
The ruling followed a Dec. 19 decision by a divided Colorado Supreme Court which found Trump ineligible to be president because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. That ruling was the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.
Since then, justices in Colorado have faced threats, Nexstar's KDVR reports. Those justices have been advised to be on high alert and report any threatening behavior.
The Colorado ruling is likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has never ruled on the rarely used Civil War-era provision.
The decision by Michigan's Supreme Court hands Trump a legal victory as his lawyers seek to stave off 14th Amendment lawsuits filed across the country, aimed at preventing his return to the White House. The amendment prohibits someone from holding “any office … under the United States” if they engaged in insurrection after taking an oath as “an officer of the United States” to “support” the Constitution.
The plaintiffs in Michigan can technically try again to disqualify Trump under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment in the general election, though it's likely there will be a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the issue by then. The state's high court on Wednesday upheld an appeals court ruling that the Republican Party could place anyone it wants on the primary ballot. But the court was silent on whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment would disqualify Trump in November if he becomes the GOP nominee.
Trump pressed two election officials in Michigan’s Wayne County not to certify 2020 vote totals, according to a recording of a post-election phone call disclosed in a Dec. 22 report by The Detroit News. The former president’s 2024 campaign has neither confirmed nor denied the recording’s legitimacy.
Attorneys for Free Speech for People, a liberal nonprofit group also involved in efforts to keep Trump's name off the primary ballot in Minnesota, had asked Michigan's Supreme Court to render its decision by Christmas Day.
The group argued that time was “of the essence” due to “the pressing need to finalize and print the ballots for the presidential primary election.”
Earlier this month, Michigan's high court refused to immediately hear an appeal, saying the case should remain before the appeals court.
Free Speech for People had sued to force Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to bar Trump from Michigan’s ballot. But a Michigan Court of Claims judge rejected their arguments, saying in November that it was the proper role of Congress to decide the question.
The Associated Press and The Hill's Zach Schonfeld contributed to this report.