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The Michigan Supreme Court has rejected an appeal to have Donald Trump disqualified from running for president in the state for allegedly violating the U.S. Constitution's insurrection clause.
In a ruling on Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court did not overturn a previous decision from Michigan's Court of Appeals, which said that the former president should remain on the 2024 ballot.
The lawsuit aiming to ban Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP primary, from running for president, filed by the Michigan-based watchdog group Free Speech For People, echoes a similar suit that succeeded in disqualifying Trump in Colorado.
In a historic 4-3 decision on December 19, Trump was barred by the Colorado Supreme Court from appearing on the state's ballots after it ruled his actions on January 6, 2021, violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The section states that a person who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" after taking an oath of office to support the U.S. Constitution cannot run for office again.
Trump is set to appeal the ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Colorado ruling was in response to an appeal by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) watchdog group and Republican figures after a lower court judge rejected their lawsuit to remove Trump from the 2024 ballots for violating the 14th Amendment despite ruling that Trump had "engaged in insurrection" during the 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In a separate ruling, the Michigan Supreme Court rejected the attempt to disqualify Trump from the state's 2024 ballots but did not weigh in on suggestions as to whether the former president had violated the 14 Amendment, nor should the courts decide such an issue.
"The Secretary of State is not legally required to confirm the eligibility of potential presidential primary candidates," the court wrote in their opinion. "She lacks the legal authority to remove a legally ineligible candidate from the ballot once their name has been put forward by a political party in compliance with the statutes governing primary elections."
Similar lawsuits that aim to disqualify Trump from running for president while citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment filed in Florida, Minnesota and New Hampshire have been thrown out in courts and are at various stages of appeal.
The case in Colorado is the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate amid claims Trump aided an insurrection when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in support of his false 2020 election fraud claims.
In their ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court justices said they did not arrive at the decision lightly.
"We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us," the court opinion said. "We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach."
The conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court, which includes three justices nominated to the bench by Trump, is likely to rule on whether the Colorado Supreme Court's decision should the former president remain on the 2024 ballots.
Update 12/27/23, 10:36 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more