The Supreme Court has rejected a Republican candidate's long-shot bid to have a much better-known candidate disqualified. On the first day of its new term, the court declined to hear an appeal from John Anthony Castro, who sought to disqualify Donald Trump under the 14th Amendment, reports Reuters. Section 3 of the amendment states that nobody who has taken an oath "as an officer of the United States" can hold office if they've "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, Castro argued that Trump was ineligible to hold office "given his alleged provision of aid or comfort to the convicted criminals and [insurrectionists] that violently attacked our United States Capitol on January 6, 2021," CNN reports. He appealed to the top court after a lower court found he didn't have standing to sue.
The amendment was introduced in the 1860s to ban former Confederates from office and it has been rarely used since. In court documents, Castro argued that its framers "specifically designed it to remove overwhelming popular pro-insurrectionists from the ballot." The Supreme Court rejected the appeal without comment. The 14th Amendment argument gained traction this summer, and at least two other lawsuits are pending, including one seeking to bar Trump from the ballot in Colorado. (More Donald Trump 2024 stories.)
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