A Michigan Court of Claims judge ruled Tuesday that it is outside Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's authority to declare former President Donald Trump disqualified for the Republican primary election ballot and that questions as to whether he is so are political ones to be decided by Congress.
Judge James Robert Redford issued rulings in three separate cases, saying in each that Michigan law requires Benson to list on the primary ballot anyone seen nationally as running and so recognized by the media or held out to her as such by the major state parties absent the candidates' request that their names be removed.
Under that law, he said, "the secretary has neither the affirmative duty nor the authority to separately decide" whether Trump should appear on the ballot or be denied access under a legal theory that he is disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
