Michigan Court of Appeals rules Trump can remain on 2024 GOP primary ballot

Michigan's Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that former President Donald Trump could remain on the state's 2024 GOP primary ballot and wouldn't be disqualified from running in the state under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

The Michigan court upheld two lower courts' rulings by rejecting an appeal filed by the watchdog group Free Speech For People on behalf of a group of Michigan voters.

The court said in a 3-0 opinion that the plaintiff's challenge was not "ripe" on procedural grounds and did not specifically rule on whether Trump fell under the disqualification clause.

"As the Court of Claims recognized, it would be improper to decide whether to grant a declaration that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President of the United States at this time," the court wrote.

"At the moment, the only event about to occur is the presidential primary election. But as explained, whether Trump is disqualified is irrelevant to his placement on that particular ballot. Thus, with respect to the presidential primary election, there is no actual controversy, as the only purported basis for removing Trump from the presidential primary ballot would not be a sufficient basis for removal of Trump's name from that ballot," the court said.

Trump's team celebrated the ruling on Thursday evening.

"With the Michigan Court of Appeals' affirmation of the Trump campaign's victories in the lower court, the Soros-funded Democrats have once again failed in their desperate attempt to interfere in the election via a bad-faith interpretation of the 14th Amendment. President Trump remains undefeated against these frivolous legal claims and has never been in a stronger position to win next year's election," campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.