Michigan Supreme Court will keep Donald Trump on 2024 ballot

Michigan’s Supreme Court is keeping former US president Donald Trump on the state’s primary election ballot.

The court said on Wednesday it will not hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling from groups seeking to keep Mr Trump from appearing on the ballot.

The state’s high court said in an order that the application by parties to appeal against a December 14 Michigan appeals court judgment was considered but denied “because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court”.

The ruling followed a December 19 decision by a divided Colorado Supreme Court which found Mr Trump ineligible to be president because of his role in the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

That ruling was the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate.

The Michigan and Colorado cases are among dozens hoping to keep Mr Trump’s name off state ballots.

They all point to the so-called insurrection clause that prevents anyone from holding office who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the constitution.

Mr Trump pressed two election officials in Michigan’s Wayne County not to certify 2020 vote totals, according to a recording of a post-election phone call disclosed in a December 22 report by The Detroit News.

The former president’s 2024 campaign has neither confirmed nor denied the recording’s legitimacy.

Lawyers for Free Speech for People, a liberal non-profit group also involved in efforts to keep Mr Trump’s name off the primary ballot in Minnesota, had asked Michigan’s Supreme Court to render its decision by Christmas Day.

The group argued that time was “of the essence” due to “the pressing need to finalise and print the ballots for the presidential primary election”.

Earlier this month, Michigan’s high court refused to immediately hear an appeal, saying the case should remain before the appeals court.

Free Speech for People had sued to force Michigan secretary of state Jocelyn Benson to bar Mr Trump from Michigan’s ballot.

But a Michigan Court of Claims judge rejected its arguments, saying in November that it was the proper role of Congress to decide the question.