The hope of the Republicans wresting power from the Democrats in the 2024 presidential election in the United States of America (USA) brightened Wednesday when the Supreme Court in the state of Michigan ruled that Donald Trump was qualified to contest in the election.
The Michigan Supreme Court entered the judgment when it rejected an attempt to remove Trump from the ballot based on a reading of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment.
Recall that the Colorado Supreme Court had disqualified Trump from contesting the election and also removed him from the Colorado primary ballot, with a 4–3 majority of judges arguing that he was linked to the January 6, 2021, Capitol breach.
However, some analysts have suggested that the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn the ruling as Trump has not been charged with either rebellion or insurrection in any jurisdiction.
According to the Michigan court’s brief order, it denied an appeal against the former president because it was “not persuaded that this Court should review the questions presented.
The order from the Michigan Supreme Court was almost unanimous as there was only one dissent by Justice Elizabeth Welch, a Democrat-nominated judge.
With the ruling, due to the 2024 election’s timeline, President Trump remains on the ballot in Michigan, a key battleground state. Several recent polls have shown that the former president is leading President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in Michigan.
The Michigan lawsuit against the former president was filed in September by a left-wing advocacy group known as the Free Speech for the People, along with a group of voters seeking to disqualify President Trump under a provision in the U.S. Constitution, written in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, that blocks people who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding office if they have previously sworn an oath to the United States.
More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed in 2023 seeking to end President Trump’s presidential candidacy under interpretations of the 14th Amendment.
Free Speech for the People also filed a similar suit that was rejected by the Minnesota Supreme Court, the suit was also rejected in Oregon.
