A Michigan judge ruled that Trump can stay on the state’s primary ballot for 2024. It’s one of several lawsuits trying to keep the President from being a candidate. This one was filed by the left wing non profit Free Speech for Free Peoples. It insists that Trump violated section 3 of the 14th Amendment by encouraging the Capitol breach January 6, 2021. But the Secretary of State can’t intervene in the primary.
Judge said Trump followed the law
Michigan Court of Claims Judge James Redford wrote, “The ultimate decision is made by the respective political party, with the consent of the listed candidate.” Ron Fein, legal director and attorney for the non profit group, wasn’t happy about the ruling, “The Michigan Supreme Court should reverse this badly-reasoned lower court decision. While our appeal is pending, the trial court’s decision isn’t binding on any other court, and we continue our current and planned legal actions in other states to enforce Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment against Donald Trump.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steve Cheung thought the decision was appropriate, “Each and every one of these ridiculous cases have LOST because they are all un-Constitutional left-wing fantasies orchestrated by monied allies of the Biden campaign seeking to turn the election over to the courts and deny the American people the right to choose their next president.” Cheung expects similar results out of related attempts to remove Trump from ballots.
This judge stuck to the state rules
Others might not do the same thing. There’s been a number of related lawsuits from critics trying to remove Trump from ballots.
The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 after the Civil War. It was supposed to be a birth of freedom for those who had been disenfranchised.
The judge agreed with Trump
Trump thought the lawsuits were “frivolous.” He spoke with Dan Bongino. “This is like a banana republic. And what they’re doing is, it’s called election interference. … Now the 14th Amendment is just a continuation of that. It’s nonsense.”
The Minnesota Supreme Court threw out the legal challenge as well. The state allows anybody to be put on the ballot. Arizona, Colorado, and New Hampshire also have lawsuits filed. Colorado was the first one to put the legal challenge to the constitution. That effort is rarely used. Closing arguments for that are scheduled for next week.
