You may not have realized it with all the other craziness swirling around Donald Trump’s name being on 2024 primary ballots in some states but there was an effort to keep his name off the ballot in Texas and many other states. The kicker is that the man behind the effort is a Republican.
The Supreme Court refused to hear the case, but John Anthony Castro wanted the Court to keep Trump off the ballot using the 14th Amendment. Castro is a Republican running for president. I know. I’ve never heard of him, either. Yet, he is trying to keep Trump off he ballot in many states. When the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, he moved his fight against Trump to over two dozen challenges against Trump’s eligibility. That’s right – Castro is trying to get Trump’s name off the ballots in more than two dozen states. Texas is one of those states.
Lawsuits filed by Castro have already been dismissed in Florida, New Hampshire, and Nevada. He argues that Trump is unqualified for office under the 14th Amendment. He uses Section 3, that prohibits anyone who engaged in insurrection from seeking office. It is much like the arguments made by public officials in Maine and Colorado.
Now there is a twist to the story. Castro was arrested and charged on federal charges. The charges are linked to an online tax company. Castro allegedly lied to the IRS to help clients increase their returns. He is accused of submitting 17 sets of fraudulent tax filings between 2018 and 2020. There are a total of 33 charges of assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.
Prosecutors detailed how Castro allegedly exploited his firm to cheat the government in court filings.
“Castro would promise a significantly higher refund than taxpayers could receive from other preparers and on many occasions, offered to split the additional refund with taxpayers,” the court documents said.
“In order to achieve these larger refunds, Castro generated false deductions, that were not based in fact, and which were submitted without the taxpayer’s knowledge.”
He was caught by an undercover cop who posed as a client.
Reports are that the undercover agent went to a reputable tax preparer who calculated a $373 tax return. Then he went to Castro who claimed he could get $6,007 from the tax return. He offered to split the difference with the undercover client. Castro allegedly claimed $30,000 in phony deductions to get that number.
Castro is playing victim. He said he is being targeted because he is trying to keep Trump off of ballots. He said he is certain this is politically motivated. He claims he paid $700,000 to the IRS to settle the dispute. “I don’t care if they offered me one day probation and a slap on the wrist in exchange for a guilty plea,” he said. “This is going to trial. I am going to convince all 12 jurors that I am 100 percent innocent and that this is political retaliation.”
The problem with using the 14th Amendment is that Trump has not been charged with insurrection, much less convicted. Castro and the others are using a bogus reason in their desperation to keep Trump off the primary ballot and out of the presidential race.
Lawsuits seeking to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot are currently pending in 13 states, according to data compiled by Lawfare: Arizona, Alaska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Several of the challenges have been initiated by John Castro, a lesser-known Republican candidate vying for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Two separate lawsuits have been filed in the state of New York—one from Castro in Manhattan court and another from Jerome Dewald, a Republican attorney.
The Texas attorney claimed he will suffer “irreparable competitive injuries” in states like Alaska if Trump is allowed to run.
Castro is filing appeals where his lawsuit has been dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Irene C. Berger dismissed Castro’s lawsuit in West Virginia without prejudice, granting the motions filed by Trump, Secretary of State Mac Warner and the West Virginia Republican Party. The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, however, meaning Castro could file again. He filed an appeal of Berger’s dismissal on Tuesday, according to The Parkersburg News and Sentinel.
Castro has also appealed a judge’s dismissal of his lawsuit filed in Arizona.
Ballot challenges have been dismissed in several states – Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
Federal Judge Robin Rosenberg, an Obama appointee in Fort Lauderdale, dismissed a lawsuit brought by three Florida attorneys within a week after it was filed in August, arguing that the filers lacked “standing” to challenge Trump’s “qualifications” to seek the presidency. The lawsuit was also based off of the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Lawsuits in Michigan and Minnesota made it all the way to the state’s Supreme Courts, but justices in both states ruled that only the Republican Party had control over who can appear on the primary ballot, no matter the candidate’s qualification for the office. The liberal non-profit Free Speech for the People appealed the decision in Michigan, and the Minnesota Supreme Court said that the plaintiffs could file a separate challenge after August 13 should Trump win the GOP nomination for the general election.
Castro’s lawsuits filed in New Hampshire and Rhode Island were both dismissed for not showing enough evidence that Trump’s candidacy would cause political competitive injury.
Castro voluntarily dismissed his challenges filed in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Utah, according to Lawfare’s tracker.
Looks like a whole lot of energy, time, and money being spent when the projected outcomes are not favorable for the ones wishing to eliminate Trump from the race.