(Headline USA) Michigan’s Supreme Court rejected a leftist lawfare attempt to block former President Donald Trump on the state’s primary election ballot.
The court said Wednesday it will not hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling from activist groups trying to rewrite the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment in order to accommodate their Trump Derangement Syndrome.
It said in an order that the application by parties to appeal a Dec. 14 Michigan appellate court judgment was considered but denied “because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court.”
The ruling contrasts with Dec. 19 decision by a divided Colorado Supreme Court, which found Trump ineligible to be president based off the arbitrary definition of “insurrection” that four far-left justices applied. That ruling was the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.
The Michigan and Colorado cases are among dozens pushed by the George Soros-funded Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Free Speech for People hoping to keep Trump’s name off state ballots. Until the Colorado ruling, all had failed.
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.
Trump, the current GOP frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race, was the sitting commander-in-chief at the time of the alleged 2021 insurrection, has never been criminally indicted or convicted of any such crime, and was acquitted by the U.S. Senate in a partisan attempt to impeach him over it.
Despite the clear problems with the legal application of the law against Trump, four of the Colorado court’s seven justices—all of whom were appointed by Democrat governors—determined that the former president was guilty based on their own subjective standard.
The Michigan court’s decision to reject similar reasoning triggered leftists in the media, who were outraged that Trump would be allowed back on the ballot.
What’s next? Perhaps a court ruling that a person who robs a bank can, of course, go on to be president of the bank he robbed. Oh, and how about a companion ruling that if he robs the bank AGAIN, he has bank president immunity against prosecution? pic.twitter.com/IxNEFENYmq
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) December 27, 2023
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.
“We are disappointed by the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision,” said Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech for People, which is also involved in efforts to keep Trump’s name off the primary ballot in Minnesota and Oregon.
“The ruling conflicts with longstanding US Supreme Court precedent that makes clear that when political parties use the election machinery of the state to select, via the primary process, their candidates for the general election, they must comply with all constitutional requirements in that process,” Fein claimed.
Colorado Republicans have said they may move from a state-run primary to a party-run caucus in reaction to the court’s decision.
Trump hailed the order, calling the effort to keep him off the ballot in multiple states a “pathetic gambit.”
Only one of the court’s seven justices dissented. Justice Elizabeth M. Welch, a Democrat, wrote that she would have kept Trump on the primary ballot but the court should rule on the merits of the Section 3 challenge. The court has a 4-3 Democratic majority.
Attorneys for Free Speech for People had asked Michigan’s Supreme Court to render its decision by Christmas Day.
The group insisted 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.
Benson, like her Colorado counterpart, Jena Griswold, is an extreme-left idealogue who herself has been heavily involved in her state’s election-meddling efforts to deliver an advantage to fellow Democrats in the crucial battleground state.
A Michigan Court of Claims judge rejected the group’s arguments, saying in November that it was the proper role of Congress to decide the question.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
