Democrats have been trying to push Trump out of the race for months. But now they’ve been smacked with a devastating ruling.
Because the Supreme Court handed Trump a massive win that is sending Democrats off the rails.
The Supreme Court denied a case challenging former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on ballots in 2024 due to his alleged role in a riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The long-shot bid to prevent Trump, 77, from running for office invokes the 14th Amendment’s “Disqualification Clause,” which prohibits anyone from holding federal or state office who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution.
In an unsigned order, the Supreme Court declined to hear the lawsuit filed by John Castro, a Republican presidential candidate.
A federal judge previously dismissed Castro’s lawsuit in June, arguing that Castro failed to demonstrate a legal injury.
“The fight is far from being over,” Castro tweeted Monday. “We’re going to get the liberal 9th Circuit to kick Trump off the ballot in Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona. Coupled with the 1st Circuit kicking him off the Maine ballot, there’s ZERO path to 270.”
Castro has filed lawsuits in several states to keep Trump off the ballot, and he has stated that he will not be deterred despite the Supreme Court’s decision.
“The Supreme Court can deny to hear the case but appellate courts cannot. I’m still pursuing decisions in the liberal appellate courts and there’s a full blown trial scheduled for October 20 in New Hampshire and a bench trial in Arizona on October 31,” he tweeted.
The rarely used Disqualification Clause was included in the 14th Amendment after the Civil War to prevent former Confederate officials from becoming elected officials and taking over state governments and the federal government.
Several liberal nonprofit organizations have filed lawsuits under the 14th Amendment to keep Trump off the ballot in 2024.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint last month on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters seeking to remove Trump from the 2024 Colorado primary ballot for “recruiting, inciting, and encouraging a violent mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in a futile attempt to remain in office,” according to the group.
Free Speech For People has also filed 14th Amendment challenges to Trump’s eligibility for office in Minnesota and Michigan state courts (with plans to file additional challenges in multiple states).
“This ruling, based on the limited jurisdiction of the federal courts, has no impact whatsoever on Trump’s eligibility for office or Free Speech For People’s challenges under state candidate eligibility challenge processes that are designed for this purpose,” the group said in a statement released after the Supreme Court declined to hear Castro’s case.
Some legal experts believe a 14th Amendment case against Trump, the GOP primary frontrunner in 2024, will fail in court.
“The amendment was written to deal with those who engage in an actual rebellion causing hundreds of thousands of deaths,” George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said last month.
“Advocates would extend the reference to ‘insurrection or rebellion’ to include unsupported claims and challenges involving election fraud.”
Turley went on to say that the Disqualification Clause theory is “not simply dubious, but dangerous.”
“According to these advocates, Trump can be barred from the ballot without any charge, let alone a conviction, of insurrection or rebellion,” he argued.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
