A Nevada federal judge rejected a challenge to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Gloria M. Navarro, who was appointed by former President Obama, issued the order dismissing John Anthony Castro’s case, noting he “lack standing.”
Castro, a GOP challenger, ultimately asked if the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment bars Trump from holding office over his alleged incitement of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
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“This is a politically charged question of significant interest to the American public,” Navarro noted. “For reasons discussed below, the Court finds that Castro lacks standing, and the Court therefore lacks jurisdiction to hear this case.”
“To have standing to sue in federal court, a plaintiff must have suffered a concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent injury in fact that was caused by the defendant’s challenged conduct and is redressable by a favorable decision,” Navarro explained. “This limitation on the judicial power prevents a plaintiff from invoking Article III jurisdiction of federal court by asserting what is merely a ‘general interest common to all members of the public.’”
The ruling noted that multiple courts have already rejected Castro’s political competitor standing argument.
“In rejecting his political competitor standing argument, courts have fund that Castro improperly manufactured his standing merely to file this lawsuit,” Navarro writes. “The evidence indicates that Castro is creating his own injury in order to manufacture standing to challenge Trump’s eligibility to run for president.”
The judge observed that by his own admission, Castro “declared as a candidate and paid the filing fee to show the impermissibility of Trump’s presidency.” The ruling cited how Castro was quoted in an Associated Press article as having said, “I’m not going to lie and pretend my candidacy is anything more than trying to enforce the United States Constitution, and that’s what I’m here to do.”
In a footnote, Navarro highlighted that Trump and Castro are not even competing on the same ballot in Nevada.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung praised the Nevada lawsuit’s dismissal in a statement to news outlets.
“Today’s dismissal of another bogus, bad-faith, Crooked Joe Biden-engineered attempt to deprive Americans as a whole, and the voters of Nevada specifically, of their right to vote for the candidate of their choice is not only a victory for President Trump, but a victory for all Americans and the people of Nevada,” Cheung said, according to KLAS. “President Trump remains undefeated in federal court against these cynical efforts to interfere in the 2024 election. Courts in eleven states have now dismissed similar, pathetic, 14th Amendment ballot cases.”
“Make no mistake, each and every one of these ‘ballot-challenges’ are blatant attempts to steal the election for Crooked Joe Biden and disenfranchise over 100 million American voters,” he continued. “President Trump is the leading candidate for not only the Republican primary, but the general election and his opponents are desperate. Rest assured that he will fight each and every one of these disgraceful attacks on American democracy, he will win, and we will all Make America Great Again.”
Dozens of lawsuits are now challenging Trump’s eligibility, citing the Fourteenth Amendment, after the Colorado Supreme Court removed him from the ballot in their state.
