PARIS (AP) — A French court is to say whether far-right leader Marine Le Pen must reinstate her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, inside the party he founded after he was expelled for anti-Semitic comments that hurt her reinvention as a presidential candidate.

The elder Le Pen has asked a civil court outside Paris to quash the party's decision that kicked him out of the National Front last year, saying its Marine-controlled leadership violated internal procedures. The ruling is expected Thursday.

The party expelled the far-right 88-year-old for referring to Nazi gas chambers as a "detail" of World War II history.

Marine Le Pen has distanced herself from her father's extremist views since taking over the National Front in 2011. She is a candidate for next spring's French presidential election.