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A federal judge in Virginia on Friday dismissed a lawsuit aimed at removing former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot citing the insurrection clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
The complaint, filed by activists Roy Perry-Bey and Carlos Howard, alleged that Trump “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the US and should therefore be disqualified from seeking the office he once occupied.
Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, found that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue to get Trump, 77, off the state’s primary ballot.
“At least five additional federal courts have concluded that citizens attempting to disqualify individuals — including former President Trump — from participating in elections or from holding public office based on the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol lacked standing,” Brinkema wrote in her 13-page ruling.
“Plaintiffs have totally failed to demonstrate how their alleged injuries are traceable to the conduct of defendants,” the judge added.
Brinkema also noted that the complaint’s reliance on rulings in Colorado and Maine keeping Trump off the ballot are out of place.
“Plaintiffs’ attempt to achieve a result similar to that in Colorado cannot occur in this Court because of the nature of their direct federal constitutional claims and because of the constraints imposed by Article III that limit the jurisdiction of federal courts,” she wrote.
Earlier this month, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.
On Thursday, Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows also disqualified Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot, citing Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Trump is expected to appeal both rulings.
The seldom-used insurrection 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.
The Trump campaign celebrated Friday’s ruling.
“President Trump remains undefeated in 14th Amendment ballot challenges in federal courts with today’s ruling in the Eastern District of Virginia,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“Thus far, federal courts in West Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida, Arizona, and Rhode Island, as well as state courts in Michigan and Minnesota have jettisoned these bad-faith, politically motivated attempts to steal the 2024 election by disqualifying President Trump from the ballot,” he added.
Cheung accused Democrats of launching a “multi-front lawfare campaign to disenfranchise tens of millions of American voters and interfere in the election” because of the former president’s lead in several GOP primary and general election polls.
“President Trump will ultimately prevail in these unConstitutional attempts to steal the election and Make America Great Again,” his statement concluded.
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