The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision, ruling on Thursday that former President Donald Trump was eligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot.
“Nothing in the statutory framework that controls the process for presidential primary elections confers any authority on the Secretary of State to make eligibility determinations or to refuse to place a candidate on that particular ballot based on an eligibility determination,” the three-judge panel wrote, echoing the lower court opinion.
The appeals court declined to rule on the issue of insurrection and did not hold an evidentiary hearing.
The Trump campaign declared victory once again, highlighting the fact that not a single of these “bad faith” challenges have succeeded in any state.
“President Trump remains undefeated against these frivolous legal claims and has never been in a stronger position to win next year’s election,” spokesperson Steven Cheung stated. “We look forward to the swift dismissals of all remaining ballot challenge cases and even bigger wins for the American people in 2024.”
After the Michigan Court of Claims ruled last month to keep President Trump on the state’s primary ballot in response to activists suing the state, arguing he was disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, an appeal swiftly followed, filed in both the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court.
On Dec. 6, the Michigan Supreme Court issued a surprising rejection to hear the case on an expedited basis, ordering the parties to proceed in the appeals court first.
One judge dissented, given the timely nature of the matter and the court’s inevitable eventual involvement. But he also gave entirely contrary opinion to the Court of Claims, writing that he would have remanded it back to that court to do an evidentiary hearing. If that had happened, Michigan would have, like Colorado, proceeded to rule on whether the former president “engaged” in an “insurrection” and whether that was reason to remove him from the state’s primary ballot.
There were three separate lawsuits against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson: one brought by local community advocate Robert Davis, another by activist group Free Speech for People representing a small group of local voters, and one brought by President Trump, who had not been allowed to participate as an intervenor in the initial case.
