A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that seeks to invoke the 14th Amendment to keep President Donald Trump off the Republican ballot for the 2024 election.
The case sought to deny the Republican frontrunner access to the Florida ballot.
Surprisingly, the case was tossed by an Obama-appointed judge.
Judge Robin Rosenberg ruled in a swift dismissal that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case against Trump.
The lawsuit alleged that Trump violated the 14th Amendment by “inciting a riot” during the January 6, 2021 protests at the Capitol.
Judge Rosenberg did not rule on the merits of the argument, however.
Instead, Rosenberg concluded that Boynton Beach attorney Lawrence Caplan and two others lacked “standing” to bring the challenge.
“Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge Defendant’s qualifications for seeking the Presidency,” Rosenberg wrote.
The judge noted that “the injuries alleged” from Jan. 6 “are not cognizable and not particular to them.”
“An individual citizen does not have standing to challenge whether another individual is qualified to hold public office,” she added.
The plaintiffs refused to comment after Thursday’s ruling.
Caplan previously told USA Today he believed there were sufficient grounds to contest his lawsuit given that he is not a candidate for office in Florida who could argue he was being harmed by appearing on the same ballot as Trump.
Nevertheless, he still claimed that Trump is so obviously guilty of inflaming the events of Jan. 6 that he should be disqualified from office.
“The 14th amendment is very clear that you do not need a conviction,” Caplan said at the time.
“You need to be accused and obviously there has to be a rationale for the accusation.
“I read the amendment and I read the facts of the indictment, and they match very closely.”
The 14th Amendment was part of a series added to the Constitution during Reconstruction following the Civil War.
It grants U.S. citizenship to anyone born on native soil and provides for “equal protection under the laws,” a clause intended to prevent the return of slavery.
The decision comes days after John Anthony Castro of Texas, a virtually unknown presidential candidate, filed a challenge to Trump’s candidacy in New Hampshire which similarly alleged he does not meet the qualifications to appear on the Granite State’s ballot.
John Formella, New Hampshire’s Republican attorney general, said he is “closely reviewing” Judge Rosenberg’s decision before issuing an opinion on his own state’s challenge.
With President Trump’s popularity on a never-ending rise following four criminal indictments, opponents of the GOP frontrunner are pulling out all the stops to deny him another term in the White House.
Recent polls have Trump besting Democrat President Joe Biden in a head-to-head matchup.
Tucker Carlson has even floated the possibility that his opponents may become desperate enough to make an attempt on Trump’s life should he continue to defy the laws of political gravity.
