(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A federal court judge in Florida rejected a legal challenge against former President Donald Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 presidential race under the 14th Amendment.
Judge Robin Rosenberg, an Obama appointee, issued her decision, arguing that the anti-Trump plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the former president’s candidacy.
“Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge defendant’s qualifications for seeking the presidency, as the injuries alleged are not cognizable and not particular to them,” the judge wrote, according to the Washington Times.
The infamous lawsuit, filed by Lawrence Caplan, argued that Trump’s alleged rule in the protests of January 6, 2021, disqualified him from holding elected office according to a contentious interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
“The 14th amendment is very clear that you do not need a conviction,” Caplan argued in an interview with USA Today, citing no evidence. “You need to be accused, and obviously there has to be a rationale for the accusation.”
While Jude Rosenberg did not rule on the constitutionality of the claims, prominent scholars have questioned the allegations that the 14th Amendment bars Trump from running.
Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz said that the effort to block Trump from appearing on ballots is a “grave danger” to the Constitution, according to Just the News.
This dismissal comes amid broader efforts against Trump’s leading GOP candidacy in key states. Leftist activists and anti-Trump Republicans have rallied to block the former president from appearing on primary ballots, despite no conviction of inciting the violence at the U.S. Capitol.
In Michigan, leftist activist Robert Davis has been pressuring Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to exclude Trump from the state’s 2024 ballots. Davis commented, “I think this legal question is very important to be decided well in advance of the primary elections for either side.”
Similarly, failed senate candidate Bryant “Corky” Messner claimed that Trump is not eligible to run in New Hampshire. In response, Chris Agers, chairman of the N.H. GOP, warned that the N.H. attorney general would block efforts to prohibit Trump from appearing on the ballots of the 2024 election.
