Trump election: Michigan supreme court rejects ballot disqualification bid

The supreme court of Michigan, a US state, has declined an appeal by voters to disqualify Donald Trump from the upcoming presidential primary. The voters aimed to invoke a clause in the US Constitution, which prohibits anyone who has participated in an insurrection, referencing Mr Trump's involvement in the 2021 Capitol riots.

This ruling follows shortly after Colorado became the first state to declare Mr Trump ineligible as a candidate. Michigan is a key state in the 2024 general election. Although traditionally a Democrat-supporting state, it backed Mr Trump, a Republican, in his victorious 2016 presidential campaign, but switched allegiance to the current President, Joe Biden, in 2020.

The pro-democracy advocacy group, Free Speech for People, filed the lawsuit in September. However, unlike in Colorado, the attempt was unsuccessful early in the process in Michigan, and the appeal to the supreme court was perceived as having a slim chance of success. Michigan courts dismissed the case on procedural grounds, without addressing the question of whether the events of January 6, 2021, constituted an insurrection and if Mr Trump had a role in it. Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Welch clarified that Michigan's laws differ from Colorado's. The appellants have not found a similar provision in the Michigan Election Law that mandates a presidential candidate to attest to their legal qualification to hold the office, she wrote.