(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/29/2023) A lawsuit led by the former counsel for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, a Michigan State University professor and others seeks to keep former President Donald Trump’s name off Michigan’s 2024 presidential primary and general election ballots.
The lawsuit was filed in the Court of Claims on behalf of former Chamber counsel and conservative attorney Robert LaBrant, Andrew Bradeway, Norah Murphy and William Nowling, a professor at Michigan State University. It states that Trump “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” when he directed the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“An individual need not personally commit an act of violence to have ‘engaged’ in insurrection,” reads the filing from Mark Brewer, a former Michigan Democratic Party chair. “… Indeed, Jefferson Davis – the president of the Confederacy – never fired a shot.”
The four plaintiffs are also represented by Massachusetts-based Free Speech for People, a nonpartisan legal advocacy organization, and the suit names the Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson as a defendant.
The lawsuit argues Trump was disqualified from holding public office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, also known as the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause, for his role in inciting and facilitating the “violent insurrection” at the Capitol.
“Our predecessors understood that oath-breaking insurrectionists will do it again, and worse, if allowed back into power, so they enacted the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause to protect the republic from people like Trump,” said Ron Fein, legal director for Free Speech for People. “Trump is legally barred from the ballot and election officials must follow this constitutional mandate.”
The lawsuit outlines Trump’s action to overturn the 2020 presidential election, noting his claims of election fraud and comments urging Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electoral certification before the attack.
The 69-page filing quotes Trump’s statement, including his repeated comments that “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.”
The filing also describes how Trump incited his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell” and later that he refused to call off those supporters as they attacked members of the Capitol Police and forced members of Congress to hide.
Free Speech for People has filed similar lawsuits in Minnesota, where the Supreme Court will hear the case Nov. 2. The organization filed similar challenges in 2022 against Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn, both Republicans, for their role in the Jan. 6 events.
Cawthorn lost his primary while the challenge was pending and a judge found insufficient factual evidence that Greene personally engaged in the riots.
