A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that aimed to keep former President Donald Trump off ballots in West Virginia.
The court action never reached the point of examining a claim that Trump is ineligible under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies federal officeholders who “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Instead, the case filed by Texas resident John Anthony Castro was dismissed because the judge found that he couldn’t demonstrate standing. Castro had described himself as a candidate for president and said Trump’s presence on the ballot would harm his chances.
U.S. District Judge Irene Berger found that the evidence submitted removes “any doubt that Mr. Castro’s purported ‘campaign’ exists as a vehicle for pursuing litigation, not votes.”
Berger wrote in a Thursday order dismissing the case that Castro could not prove any political activity aside from the lawsuit.
“The Plaintiff alleged that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for President and anticipates being on the ballot in West Virginia. His complaint contains few specific factual allegations related to his candidacy,” Berger wrote.
Berger continued, “the court finds that Mr. Castro’s complaint relies on supposition and speculation that if Mr. Trump were removed from the ballot, that his voters and contributors would default to other candidates including Mr. Castro. But he supplies no specifics to support the conclusion that Trump voters would become Castro voters if his suit was successful.”
The Supreme Court of Colorado declared that Trump is not eligible to be on Primary Election ballots there because of the 14th Amendment requirements. That case featured a key difference in terms of standing. That lawsuit was initiated by liberal group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on behalf of six Colorado voters, four Republicans and two unaffiliated.
Castro had filed suit in 27 states including New Hampshire, Florida, Utah, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
In October, the Supreme Court declined to hear Castro’s case. Federal judges in Florida, Rhode Island and New Hampshire dismissed his lawsuits. He voluntarily withdrew suits in 12 other states.
Castro is a tax consultant who has run for office several times unsuccessfully. He ran as a Democrat in 2004 for a county court of commissioners position in Texas, finishing fifth of five. He ran as a Republican in 2020 for U.S. Senate from Texas, finishing fourth in a primary behind incumbent John Cornyn. Then in 2021, he ran as a Republican in a special election for House of Representatives, coming nowhere close to winning.
His lawsuit included several paragraphs meant to demonstrate Trump’s connection with insurrection activity following the 2020 presidential election, including a statement in a debate to the Proud Boys group to “stand back and stand by,” a videotaped statement following the Jan. 6 riots that “we love you; you’re very special” and a more recent statement by Trump indicating willingness to pardon people convicted in the Capitol riots.
Reacting on social media to West Virginia lawsuit’s dismissal, Castro called the system corrupt.
“West Virginia Federal Judge Irene Berger declares that I’m running for President ‘in bad faith’ to ‘manufacture’ standing. So if I was a corrupt POS running for President to enrich myself and corporate oligarchs, they’d find ‘good faith.’ But because I’m running for President based on my principles, they’re saying it’s in ‘bad faith,'” he wrote.
Berger’s order pointed to evidence that Castro has no campaign offices, staff, or advertising in West Virginia, does not appear in polling, has little name recognition among West Virginia Republican primary voters, and has extremely minimal campaign funds, vastly insufficient to run an actual campaign.
Berger concluded that Castro “has not met his burden of showing a concrete and particularized injury to him caused by Mr. Trump’s allegedly wrongful anticipated presence on the ballot, or that any injury would be redressed by precluding Mr. Trump’s appearance on the ballot.”
Trump has twice won West Virginia by wide margins. In 2016, Trump got 68.5 percent of the general election vote in West Virginia, to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 26.4 percent. In 2020, Trump got 68.6 percent of West Virginia’s general election vote, to Democrat Joe Biden’s 29.7 percent.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, whose office was involved with challenging the case, said its dismissal is a triumph for voters.
“This is a big win for the integrity of our elections,” said Morrisey, a Republican. “This lawsuit was frivolous to begin with and without merit—it had no basis in either law or fact.
“Any eligible candidate has the right to be on the ballot unless legally disqualified, and we will defend the laws of West Virginia and the right of voters and candidates to the fullest.”