A civil action lawsuit filed to remove former President Donald Trump from presidential primary ballots in Virginia in 2024 has been dismissed by a federal judge.
The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 18, 2023, by Roy Perry-Bey and Carlos Howard, claiming that Trump is “constitutionally ineligible under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment” to run for federal office “based on his engagement in insurrection against the United States” following the 2020 presidential election.
On Dec. 29, 2023, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued an opinion dismissing the lawsuit because it lacked “subject-matter jurisdiction.”
“Plaintiffs have totally failed to demonstrate how their alleged injuries are traceable to the conduct of defendants,” the opinion reads.
In comparison to successful attempts to remove Trump from state ballots in the likes of Colorado and Maine, Brinkema explained that those rulings were made based on each state’s election laws –specifically Article III of the 14th Amendment — not in federal court.
“Federal courts across the country have consistently held that individual citizens do not have Article III standing to challenge whether another citizen is qualified to hold public office,” the opinion reads.
Colorado’s Supreme Court voted 4-3 to bar Trump from the state’s Republican primary in March. Maine’s secretary of state issued a similar ruling a week later — a ruling that critics warned could lead to other partisan election officials disqualifying candidates they oppose. Trump has since appealed that ruling.
The judge’s opinion also found that Perry-Bey and Howard had failed to follow legal procedure in a number of their filed motions.
“Accordingly, defendants’ motions to dismiss will be granted and the Second Amended Complaint will be dismissed,” Brinkema said.