The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to disqualify former US President Donald Trump (2017-2021), a candidate for the 2024 elections, from the elections to the White House for his role in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The ruling in Michigan contrasts with the decision last week by the Colorado Supreme Court, which did disqualify Trump for the 2024 elections under the same legal premise.
The plaintiffs—whom Colorado sided with in an unprecedented ruling—were appealing to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits people who have participated in an insurrection from holding elected office.
That amendment was approved in 1868, after the civil war in the United States, to prevent people associated with the southern rebels of the Confederacy from coming to power.
Unlike Colorado, in Michigan the magistrates defended that the case raises a political question that should not be resolved by Justice and they rejected the lawsuit without even holding a trial.
These rulings, for now, only affect Colorado and Michigan, since in the US federal system each state – and not the nation – is responsible for organizing the elections. Courts in Montana have also rejected a similar case.
Trump’s presidential campaign announced after the ruling in Colorado its intention to appeal to the United States Supreme Court to guarantee that the former president is on the electoral ballots in every state in the country.
“We have full confidence that the Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor,” said spokesman Steven Cheung.
This movement would leave in the hands of the Supreme Court – if it chooses to accept the appeal – the final decision on whether the 14th Amendment can be used in Trump’s case and whether or not he can run in the 2024 presidential elections.
Six of the nine members of the High Court are considered conservative, three of them nominated by Trump himself during his term.
The Republican primaries begin next January 15 with the Iowa caucuses and Trump is the favorite according to all polls to once again face the now president, Democrat Joe Biden, in the November elections for the White House.
