Activist wants Michigan to disqualify Donald Trump from 2024 ballot

Lansing — Litigious activist Robert Davis, who's known for filing frequent legal challenges against politicians, plans to ask Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Monday to declare former President Donald Trump ineligible for Michigan ballots in 2024.

Davis of Highland Park is arguing that Trump should be disqualified from having his name on primary and general election ballots under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment, which dates back to the aftermath of the Civil War, says no one can hold office if they have previously taken an oath to support the Constitution but "engaged in insurrection or rebellion."

As Trump campaigns to be the Republican nominee for the nation's highest office next year, Davis is seeking a declaratory ruling from Benson, six months before Michigan's presidential primary election, according to a draft of his request.

"I think this legal question is very important to be decided well in advance of the primary elections for either side,” Davis said in an interview Monday.

Some experts, including retired judge J. Michael Luttig and Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard, have contended the 14th Amendment should block Trump from running for president again after his efforts to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 ended in a riot at U.S Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

"The Constitution in Amendment 14, Section 3 forbids the former president from holding the office of the presidency again because of his conduct in and around Jan. 6, 2021," Luttig said during an appearance on MSNBC earlier this month.

But public polling has generally shown Trump as the lead GOP candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and blocking his name from ballots would be a consequential step with significant political implications. Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professor, recently told "America's Voice Live," blocking Trump's name from ballots under the 14th Amendment would be an injustice and a "grave danger to our Constitution."

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Under Michigan law, Benson and Kristina Karamo, chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party, must develop lists of presidential candidates whose names get to appear on the Feb. 27 presidential primary ballots. The law requires Benson to include names of those "generally advocated by the national news media to be potential candidates."

Candidates appearing on either Benson's list, which is due by Nov. 10, or Karamo's list, which is due by Nov. 14, effectively get their names on the ballot without doing anything else.

Davis wants to get in front of that process and persuade Benson to prevent Trump's name from appearing under the 14th Amendment. Similar efforts have already taken shape in other states, including North Carolina and Florida.

"No matter what the secretary of state does in response to this legal challenge, there will be a lawsuit. No doubt," Davis told The Detroit News.

Davis has frequently filed legal challenges against candidates and officeholders in the past, seeking to enforce elements of Michigan election law. Earlier this year, a Michigan Court of Appeals panel accused him of using one case to harass a group of Wayne County Circuit Court judges.

Davis intervened as a defendant in the unsuccessful November 2020 lawsuit brought by Texas lawyer Sidney Powell to overturn Michigan's last presidential election.

It's unclear how Benson, a Democrat and a former dean of Wayne State University Law School, will respond to the request from Davis.

Benson doesn't have to issue a formal response, said Steven Liedel, a Lansing attorney at the Dykema law firm whose specialties include election law.

While there is a "serious potential issue" with Trump's qualifications, it might be too early in the election process for Benson to prevent his name from appearing on ballots, Liedel said.

"I don’t know if it’s an issue until he’s actually a nominee,” Liedel said.

Trump is currently facing four criminal cases totaling 91 alleged criminal counts. Two of the cases — one federal and one in Georgia — directly relate to Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Biden.

However, a court has not found Trump guilty of any of the allegations against him.

The charges in federal court in Washington, D.C., against Trump are conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy against rights and obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding.

Trump's campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

cmauger@detroitnews.com