Michigan appeals court says Trump can be on GOP primary ballot

A three-judge state Court of Appeals panel on Thursday affirmed a lower court ruling saying neither the courts nor Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson can bar former President Donald Trump from being a candidate in Michigan's Feb. 27 Republican primary.

The panel also held that a lower court properly ruled that the Wayne County Election Commission isn't barred from printing GOP primary ballots with Trump's name on them.

While another victory for Trump's insistence that he be allowed to run as a candidate in Michigan, plaintiffs say the decisions are slated to be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court for a final verdict, though even then parties could try to get the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.

The appeals court took up the question of whether Trump's actions to attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, in which he lost to President Joe Biden in Michigan and several other key swing states, and his egging on of a mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to block the certification of that election for Biden, violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

That section prohibits a person who has engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the country or aiding those who have from serving in federal office. Wayne County activist Robert Davis and a group of plaintiffs represented by former Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer filed lawsuits arguing that election officials − namely Benson − or the courts should find Trump was disqualified from appearing on the ballot.

Similar cases have been filed in states across the U.S., including in Colorado, Minnesota and New Hampshire. So far, none have led to Trump's being barred from the ballot.

Last month, Court of Claims Judge James Robert Redford found that it is outside Benson's legal authority to make such a determination, since state law clearly says she will list the people widely known as running for president, absent their asking her to leave them off the ballot.

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Redford also said it was outside the court's purview to make such a determination either, at least at this point, and that any such finding of disqualification sits with Congress, not the states.

The Court of Appeals panel agreed, saying Benson's role in listing primary ballot candidates is "purely administrative." Likewise, it ruled that there is no support for finding that the Wayne County Election Commission has a duty to "independently determine whether Trump is disqualified under the Insurrection Clause," as Davis had asked it to do.

The Court of Appeals, however, declined to say whether Trump is or isn't qualified to be president under Section 3, and whether his name should or should not appear on the general election ballot, saying that isn't "ripe," given that he's not yet the Republican nominee.

"Even if Trump were disqualified from holding the office of president of the United States by the Insurrection Clause, nothing prevents the Michigan Republican Party from identifying him as a candidate in the upcoming primary election," the court said.

Davis, contacted Thursday, said he was already working on appealing to the Michigan Supreme Court and Brewer had said in the past that he was certain the decisions made by lower courts would end up there.

Contact Todd Spangler at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan appeals court says Trump can be on GOP primary ballot