The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a case challenging former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on 2024 election ballots because of his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
The long-shot bid to bar Trump, 77, from running for office cites the 14th Amendment’s “Disqualification Clause,” which prohibits any person who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding federal or state office.
The Supreme Court declined to hear the lawsuit filed by John Castro – a Republican presidential candidate – in an unsigned order.
Castro’s lawsuit was previously dismissed by a federal judge in June, who argued that Castro failed to show 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 to keep Trump off the ballot in various states, and said he will not be deterred despite the high 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 seldom-used Disqualification Clause was included in the post-Civil War 14th Amendment as a means to prevent former Confederate officials from becoming elected officials and taking over state governments and the federal government.
Several liberal nonprofit groups have filed lawsuits citing the 14th Amendment in an effort to keep Trump off ballots 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 bar Trump from the 2024 Colorado primary ballot over his alleged role in “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.
The group Free Speech For People has also filed 14th Amendment challenges to Trump’s eligibility for office in state court in Minnesota and Michigan (and 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 don’t believe that a 14th Amendment case against Trump, the 2024 GOP primary frontrunner, will hold up 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 added that he views the Disqualification Clause theory as “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.