GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Challenges to former President Donald Trump's bid to retake the White House in 2024 were on full display Thursday as the Michigan Court of Claims heard arguments claiming Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has and should use the authority to remove Trump from the state's election ballots.
"Plaintiffs, like all Michigan voters, have a right to only have eligible candidates on the primary election ballot," attorney Mark Brewer said, representing the plaintiffs in one case against Benson.
It's part of a wave of lawsuits around the country, including in states like Colorado and Minnesota. Many of the lawsuits, including those in Michigan, argue Trump is ineligible to run for office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Under Section 3, the Constitution reads that someone can be barred from holding office in the U.S. if they, "having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
Activists argue Trump did just that, through involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"Even if Barack Obama - who I would love to vote for again - but if he presented himself to be a candidate here in Michigan, the Secretary of State could and should say, 'No, you cannot appear on the ballot, you cannot petition, you cannot appear on a party list, you cannot appear on a ballot because you are unconstitutionally unqualified,' just as we believe Mr. Trump is here," Brewer said.
Appearing on Benson's behalf, Assistant Attorney General Heather Meingast argued Benson does not have the authority to unilaterally remove Trump, but would do so if the courts ordered it.
"[Benson] does not dispute that allowing an ineligible or unqualified candidate on the ballot tends to undermine both the integrity and the efficacy of that process," Meingast said. "But the question here is who has the authority to determine whether a candidate for the office of President of the United States has engaged in insurrection such that he should be disqualified from either seeking or holding that office under Section 3 of the 14th amendment."
In a third case, lawyers for the former president argued that the court should not only reject the claim that Benson has the authority, but that Court of Claims Judge James Robert Redford should go a step further by barring Benson from taking any such action.
"Our complaint asks the court to enter a declaratory judgement confirming that the secretary of state has no authority to refuse to place President Trump's name on the ballot, and enter an injunction stopping her from not placing him on the ballot," Trump attorney Michael Columbo said.
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