OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A Rhode Island federal judge has rejected another challenge to former President Donald Trump’s 2024 ballot eligibility.
Obama-appointed U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. dismissed a 14th Amendment challenge to Trump’s Rhode Island ballot listing. John Anthony Castro, a lesser-known 2024 Republican presidential candidate, filed the lawsuit with several others in other states.
In October, the Supreme Court rejected Castro’s Florida appeal. Last week, the First Circuit ruled Castro lacked standing to sue in New Hampshire.
Castro’s lawsuits claim Trump is ineligible for office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars officials who “engaged in insurrection” after taking an oath to the Constitution. He claims Trump’s candidacy will cost him voters and support.
McConnell based his decision on the First Circuit’s ruling that Castro was not “a direct and current competitor” of Trump when he filed his complaint. Thus, he has not shown that, as of that time, he had satisfied the injury-in-fact component of the standing inquiry, the court ruled.
“The American people have the unassailable right to vote for the candidate of their choosing at the ballot box, something the Democrats and their allies driving these cases clearly disagree with,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. “President Trump believes the American voters, not the courts, should decide who wins next year’s elections, and we urge a swift dismissal of all such remaining bogus ballot challenges.”
Rhode Island Federal Court Dismisses Latest Ballot Challenge
“President Trump believes the American voters, not the courts, should decide who wins next year’s elections and we urge a swift dismissal of all such remaining bogus ballot challenges.” – @TheStevenCheung pic.twitter.com/qgKTncilv8
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) November 27, 2023
Attempts by left-wing groups and disaffected Republican voters to keep Trump off the ballot using an obscure provision of the U.S. Constitution have, so far, failed miserably, though the effort continues in some states.
Last week, a Colorado judge handed the former president a victory in one of the 14th Amendment cases, declaring that Trump was eligible to be on the state’s ballot, The Associated Press reported.
District Judge Sarah B. Wallace did say that the former president was guilty of engaging in an insurrection but found that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which names several federally elected offices that someone cannot run for if they are guilty of insurrection, does not specifically list the presidency.
“Part of the Court’s decision is its reluctance to embrace an interpretation that would disqualify a presidential candidate without a clear, unmistakable indication that such is the intent of Section Three,” the judge said.
“After considering the arguments on both sides, the Court is persuaded that ‘officers of the United States’ did not include the President of the United States,” she said. “It appears to the Court that, for whatever reason, the drafters of Section Three did not intend to include a person who had only taken the Presidential Oath.”
NBC News reported, however, that the state Supreme Court had agreed to hear an appeal of the case filed by legal groups representing anti-Trump Republican voters. The former president himself also filed an appeal because he disagreed with Wallace’s ruling that he participated in an “insurrection.”
Meanwhile, a state judge in Michigan ruled that Trump was still eligible to appear on that state’s ballot as well.
“Court of Claims Judge James Redford rejected arguments that Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol meant the court had to declare him ineligible for the presidency. Redford wrote that, because Trump followed state law in qualifying for the primary ballot, he cannot remove the former president,” The Associated Press reported.
Redford also noted he believes it should be up to Congress to decide whether Trump should be disqualified from elected office under the amendment’s provision barring anyone who “engaged in insurrection.”
Earlier this month, a judge in Minnesota also ruled that Trump could appear on the state’s ballot next year, turning away an identical challenge to his qualifications. Following that decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected an appeal of the lower court’s ruling, according to CNN.
However, Minnesota’s highest court “said the challengers can try again to block him from the general election ballot if the former president wins the Republican nomination,” CNN added.
Trump is, by a wide margin, the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Recently, polls have shown him pulling ahead of President Joe Biden, especially in crucial swing states where he’ll need to pull off a victory next November.
