The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an effort to remove former President Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot in 2024.
The court’s order blocks efforts to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which states no one who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” after having sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution can hold office.
In a brief order issued Wednesday, the court said it declined to hear a case arguing that Trump should be left off of the state's ballot because it is “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court.”
The order comes after the Michigan Court of Appeals this month similarly rejected challenges to Trump's spot on the state's primary ballot. In a 3-0 opinion that cited Michigan law, the appellate court said: “Who to place on the primary ballot is determined by the political parties and the individual candidates.”
Courts in Arizona and Minnesota have also ruled against similar efforts to get Trump kicked off the ballot. The Minnesota Supreme Court last month dismissed a petition by a group of voters to ban Trump from the 2024 GOP primary and general election ballots, saying Minnesota law did not bar major parties from putting even ineligible candidates on the primary ballot.
The Michigan Supreme Court's order Wednesday contrasts with the Colorado Supreme Court's first-of-its-kind decision last week barring Trump's candidacy in the state's primary next year on constitutional grounds.
“A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the Colorado ruling said. “Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.”
Trump praised the Michigan Supreme Court’s order in a post on his Truth Social platform Wednesday morning, saying that the court has “strongly and rightfully denied the Desperate Democrat attempt to take the leading Candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election, me, off the ballot in the Great State of Michigan.”
“This pathetic gambit to rig the Election has failed all across the Country, including in States that have historically leaned heavily toward the Democrats,” he wrote. “Colorado is the only State to have fallen prey to the scheme.”
