A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Florida lawyer who claimed Trump should be banned from the 2024 ballot for inciting an insurrection.
The legal theory is based on Section 3 of the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment which states public officials who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the US may be disqualified from public office.
Trump has not been charged with engaging in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.
Judge Robin Rosenberg a US District Judge for the Southern District of Florida ruled the attorney, Lawrence Caplan, lacked standing to bring the lawsuit.
“Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge Defendant’s qualifications for seeking the Presidency,” Rosenberg, an Obama appointee wrote, adding that “the injuries alleged” from the insurrection on Capitol Hill more than two years ago “are not cognizable and not particular to them.”
The judge also said that “an individual citizen does not have standing to challenge whether another individual is qualified to hold public office.”
The Palm Beach Post reported:
A federal court judge in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit challenging Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential candidacy under the 14th Amendment.
The lawsuit, filed a week ago, questioned Trump’s ability to appear on the Florida presidential primary ballot next year, owing to his alleged role in the Jan. 6 violence at the U.S. Capitol.
In her swift dismissal of the case, Judge Robin Rosenberg, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, did not determine the 14th Amendment’s applicability in Trump’s case. Instead, Rosenberg ruled that the plaintiffs, Boynton Beach attorney Lawrence Caplan and two others, lacked “standing” to bring the challenge.
Arizona’s Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes earlier this week confirmed he does not have the authority to bar Trump from the ballot.
“Now, the Arizona Supreme Court said that because there’s no statutory process in federal law to enforce Section 3 of the 14th amendment, you can’t enforce it,” Fontes said on “The Gaggle” podcast by The Arizona Republic.
Meanwhile New Hampshire’s RINO Secretary of State and Attorney General are also reviewing the legal theory that Trump can’t run for president.