A left-wing group has sued in yet another state to try and keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot.
This time, the nonprofit known as Free Speech For People filed suit in the Wolverine State to block Trump, citing his actions during the January 6 Capitol protest as sufficient legal evidence to bar him from the ballot under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Mark Brewer, the former Michigan Democratic Party Chair and an attorney for Free Speech For People, filed the suit on behalf of Michigan voters Robert LaBrant, Andrew Bradway, Norah Murphy, and William Nowling on Friday, according to Courthouse News.
“Despite knowing that violence was ongoing at the Capitol and that his violent supporters would heed a call from him to withdraw, for 187 minutes, Trump refused repeated requests that he instruct his violent supporters to disperse and leave the Capitol,” Brewer wrote in the suit. “Instead, he reveled in the violent attack as it unfolded on television.”
The attorney claimed, “The events of January 6, 2021, amounted to an insurrection or rebellion under Section 3: a violent, coordinated effort to storm the Capitol to obstruct and prevent the Vice President of the United States and the United States Congress from fulfilling their constitutional roles by certifying President Biden’s victory, and to illegally extend then-President Trump’s tenure in office.”
Michigan isn’t the first state in which this group is trying to block Trump’s ballot presence. It also filed suit in Minnesota and attempted the same gambit in New Hampshire, but the group’s effort was blocked by the Granite State’s Secretary of State.
“As long as he submits his declaration of candidacy and signs it under the penalties of perjury and pays the $1,000 filing fee, his name will appear on the presidential primary ballot,” Secretary of State David Scanlan said in a press conference.
Scanlan also explained that barring Trump could prove disastrous for the electoral process.
“In a situation where some states permit a name to appear on the ballot and other states disqualify it, chaos, confusion, anger, and frustration will be the result,” he said. “At a time when we need to ensure transparency and build confidence among voters around the country, the delegate selection process should not be the battleground to test this constitutional question.”
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