A federal judge in California on Jan. 3 dismissed a lawsuit that sought to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 Republican primary ballot in that state.
District Judge David Carter granted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit “with prejudice,” which means that it can’t be submitted to the same court again, according to court papers.
A plaintiff attempted to argue that they suffered “emotional injury” as a result of the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while watching the events unfold on television, on the radio, and in various publications. They then argued that the incident caused them “severe emotional distress” and then filed a lawsuit to keep the former president off California’s ballot.
However, the judge wrote that because the events occurred “more than two years before the plaintiff” filed suit, it was outside of the two-year statute of limitations.
In recent days and weeks, a number of lawsuits have been filed in different states seeking to bar President Trump from appearing on the ballot ahead of the 2024 election. Those suits have claimed that the former president engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States under an interpretation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s Section 3, which was written in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Civil War.
At least two of those challenges have seen some success in Maine and Colorado, although there has been widespread speculation that higher courts or even the U.S. Supreme Court will strike those rulings down.
Days before Christmas, Colorado’s highest court ruled to keep the former president off the primary ballot in the state, which was promptly appealed to the Supreme Court. Last week, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, unilaterally decided to keep President Trump off the ballot, which also has been appealed.
Ahead of the Supreme Court appeal, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said that “unsurprisingly, the all-Democrat-appointed Colorado Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, supporting a Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden by removing President Trump’s name from the ballot and eliminating the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice.”
Legal analysts have suggested that the U.S. Supreme Court would take up those two cases and likely would rule against the plaintiffs at least on procedural grounds. However, it isn’t clear whether the court will take up the more thorny questions presented under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause.
Other Attempts
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber had included the former president on the state’s primary ballot list alongside other GOP presidential challengers such as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Democrat Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis had suggested that officials evaluate whether the former president is eligible to run in California.“I urge you to explore every legal option to remove former President Donald Trump from California’s 2024 presidential primary ballot,” Ms. Kounalakis wrote on Dec. 20. “The constitution is clear: you must be 35 years old and not be an insurrectionist.”
However, her letter drew pushback from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, who chided President Trump but described the challenges as a “political distraction.”
“In California, we defeat candidates at the polls,” he said. “Everything else is a political distraction.”
“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,” she wrote in a ruling.
In a statement, the Trump campaign hailed the decision, noting that federal courts in West Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida, Arizona, and Rhode Island, along with state courts in Minnesota and Michigan, have dismissed similar suits.
