Can Michigan activists keep Trump off the ballot? A judge heard arguments today
FILE - Former President Donald Trump waits to take the witness stand during his civil fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, in New York. A judge in Michigan is expected to hear arguments as to whether or not Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has the authority to keep Trump无毛视频檚 name off any state ballot for president. Activists are suing Benson in the Michigan Court of Claims to force her to keep Trump无毛视频檚 name off ballots.
FILE - Jocelyn Benson, Michigan secretary of state, testifies as the Senate Judiciary Committee hears from election officials and Justice Department officials about the rise in threats toward elected leaders and election workers, Aug. 3, 2022, at the Capitol in Washington. A judge in Michigan is expected to hear arguments as to whether or not Benson has the authority to keep Donald Trump无毛视频檚 name off any state ballot for president. Activists are suing Benson in the Michigan Court of Claims to force her to keep Trump无毛视频檚 name off ballots.
A judge in Michigan heard arguments Thursday on whether Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has the authority to keep Donald Trump无毛视频檚 name off state ballots for president.
Activists sued Benson in the Michigan Court of Claims to force her to keep Trump无毛视频檚 name off ballots and to assess Trump无毛视频檚 constitutional qualifications to serve a second term as president.
Meanwhile, attorneys for the former president demanded that Trump无毛视频檚 name be allowed on the 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot.
Arguments in three separate cases started Thursday morning in Grand Rapids before Judge James Robert Redford, who, at the end of the hearings, told the parties that he 无毛视频渨ill act with all possible deliberate speed to figure out what should happen next.无毛视频�
Redford said he will issue written opinions, but did not give time frame for when that will occur.
He also alluded to expecting some type of appeal.
无毛视频淚 fully recognize I am not the last word on whatever happens in this case,无毛视频� he said.
Activists in two separate suits point to a section of the U.S. Constitution无毛视频檚 14th Amendment that prohibits a person from running for federal office if they have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the U.S. or given aid or comfort to those who have.
Liberal groups have filed similar lawsuits in Colorado and Minnesota to also bar Trump from the ballot, portraying him as the inciter of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which was intended to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden无毛视频檚 2020 presidential election win.
The groups cite a rarely used constitutional prohibition against holding office for those who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution but then 无毛视频渆ngaged in insurrection无毛视频� against it. The two-sentence clause in the 14th Amendment has been used only a handful of times since the years after the Civil War.
But the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit citing the provision. The court无毛视频檚 ruling said its decision applied only to the state无毛视频檚 primary.
Free Speech For People, a group representing petitioners before the Minnesota Supreme Court, also represents petitioners in one of the Michigan cases against Benson.
Trump is considered the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Benson has already said in a filing that Michigan无毛视频檚 Legislature does not give her the authority to determine whether a candidate for president may be disqualified for the state ballot under the 14th Amendment or to assess a candidate无毛视频檚 constitutional qualifications to serve as president.
It无毛视频檚 a 无毛视频渇ederal constitutional question of enormous consequence无毛视频� whether Trump cannot appear as a presidential candidate on state ballots, Benson wrote. 无毛视频淢ichigan courts have held that administrative agencies generally do not have the power to determine constitutional questions.无毛视频�
However, she said that she will follow the direction of the court either way.
On Thursday, Benson attorney Heather Meingast said they are not arguing 无毛视频渙ne way or the other无毛视频� on Trump无毛视频檚 eligibility. 无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 simply not our call,无毛视频� she said.
Trump attorney Michael Columbo argued that his legal team has found no case that involves a court striking a presidential candidate from a ballot 无毛视频渙ver a disputed disqualification.无毛视频�
无毛视频淭here is a lack of judicial standards,无毛视频� Columbo said. 无毛视频淭here is a lack of clarity here over what kind of conduct constitutes disqualifying conduct under Section Three (of the 14th Amendment). Under Michigan law, right now, there无毛视频檚 nothing to guide the secretary.无毛视频�
Nationally, 无毛视频渨e can无毛视频檛 have Section Three meaning different things in different states,无毛视频� he added. 无毛视频淭his would just wreak havoc and chaos on our federal presidential elections.无毛视频�
But Mark Brewer, an attorney for activists in one of the lawsuits, said Michigan case law gives voters the right to question candidates无毛视频� eligibility and 无毛视频渢hrough a judicial process, knock them off the ballot.无毛视频�
无毛视频淚n Minnesota, there is no such provision that gives voters standing to question the eligibility of candidates,无毛视频� said Brewer, who expects that within days of Redford issuing an opinion the matter will be appealed.
无毛视频淲e will be on the Michigan Supreme Court and then after the United States Supreme Court,无毛视频� Brewer said. 无毛视频淚t will be resolved.无毛视频�