Originally published October 2, 2023 11:05 am PDT
Former President Donald Trump scored a legal victory on Monday as the United States Supreme Court chose not to consider a case aimed at disqualifying him from the 2024 election under the 14th Amendment.
This amendment, enacted after the Civil War, was initially intended to prevent leaders of the Confederacy from holding elected office, Reuters reports.
The legal challenge was initiated by John Anthony Castro, a Texas tax consultant and Republican presidential hopeful.
Castro alleged that Trump’s alleged associations with the events of January 6, 2021 should render him ineligible under a provision of the 14th Amendment that prohibits any person who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S. Constitution, or provided “aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” from holding office.
Castro’s lawsuit sought to prevent Trump from appearing on any U.S. state’s ballot and aimed to have him declared ineligible to pursue public office.
The case revolved around Trump’s expressions of empathy toward those involved in the Capitol unrest and his statements about considering pardoning them if he were to be re-elected.
“Given his alleged provision of aid or comfort to the convicted criminals and insurrectionist that violently attacked our United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Castro asserted, Trump had breached the rules outlined in the 14th Amendment.
“The framers of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment specifically designed it to remove overwhelming popular pro-insurrectionists from the ballot,” argued Castro, suggesting that Trump represented “the precise type of person they sought to disqualify.”
However, the Supreme Court declined to entertain the appeal, rendering no comments or recorded votes on the matter, after lower courts had already dismissed Castro’s lawsuit due to a lack of legal standing.
This dismissal is consistent with the lower courts’ findings that Castro had failed to demonstrate a legal injury, resulting in appeals to both the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and the Supreme Court.
Notably, Trump has not been legally charged with or convicted of sedition or insurrection, and he continues to maintain his stance that the 2020 election was marred by widespread voting fraud.
