PHOENIX — A federal judge has tossed a bid by a would-be GOP candidate for president to keep Donald Trump off the ballot in Arizona, saying the challenger’s presidential campaign is not really serious.
Judge Douglas Rayes acknowledged that John Castro has in fact qualified to have his name on the ballot for the state’s March 19 presidential preference primary. But the judge said that does not give him the right to try to keep off the name of the former president.
“It does not convince the court that Castro is genuinely competing with Trump for votes or contributions, or that he has any chance or intent to prevail in that election,’’ Rayes wrote in the 12-page ruling late Tuesday.
Instead, the judge concluded the only reason Castro is running is to give him legal standing to pursue his claims in Arizona and other states — he’s filed at least 27, none of which Castro has won — that Trump is barred from being president based on his actions in and around the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Castro contends that Trump, in his last days in office, provided “aid and comfort’’ to those who engaged in insurrection by invading the Capitol. Under the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies for office anyone who engaged in insurrection or gave aid and comfort to U.S. enemies, Trump should not be allowed to run, Castro has argued on his own behalf, without a lawyer.
Rayes said all that is legally irrelevant.
He said the U.S. Constitution says the only people entitled to sue in federal court are those who have suffered an injury that is “concrete, particularized and actual or imminent.’’
There would need to be some evidence that Trump’s appearance on the ballot would harm Castro, Rayes said.
“Castro offers no evidence that he has Arizona supporters, that he has received contributions from anywhere in the country, or that he would gain support or contributions if Trump could not appear on the ballot,’’ the judge wrote.
For example, the judge said, documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 of this year show Castro reported only $678 in contributions, including $677 he donated to himself.
Rayes said Castro has tried to manufacture controversy to influence his decision.
He noted that on Oct. 27 — the same day a federal judge in New Hampshire threw out Castro’s challenge there because he lacked standing to sue — Castro’s campaign purchased a digital billboard in downtown Phoenix, about three blocks from the federal courthouse here. The message began running on Nov. 13, the day before the hearing before Rayes.
The judge was not amused.
“If (the Constitution’s) injury-in-fact requirement is to serve as a meaningful restraint on judicial power, it must allow federal courts to recognize such shenanigans for what they are — an attempt to manufacture a controversy in order to pursue a political agenda through litigation,’’ Rayes wrote.
Castro has admitted he has no illusions about winning the Arizona presidential preference election, much less becoming the Republican Party nominee in 2024.
“I know there is very little chance I could actually win now,’’ he told Capitol Media Services last month before the hearing. Still, he said, there is nothing wrong with building name recognition for a possible future bid.
And in the meantime?
“I want to be commissioner of IRS,’’ he said, saying he has two degrees in tax law.
Castro, in a request to have Rayes reconsider his ruling, said the judge is trying to “justify the unprecedented and novel theory that the court can determine who is and is not a ‘genuine’ candidate.’’
Rayes said in his ruling that’s not the case.
“To be clear, the court’s conclusion is not based on political prognostication or a perception that Castro is unlikely to win,’’ the judge wrote.
“Instead, it is based on a finding that Castro is not truly running for office,’’ he continued. “His campaign’s raison d’etre is to contrive standing in order to pursue litigation to keep Trump off the ballot.’’
Castro said that doesn’t tell the whole story.
In his motion asking for a reconsideration, he acknowledged that his contention Trump is constitutionally disqualified from running for president because of the 14th Amendment was the “initial motivation’’ for his own candidacy.
“That motivating principle led plaintiff on this journey, and plaintiff is now doing his best, entirely on his own, to seriously pursue the presidency of the United States,’’ Castro wrote.
Aside from asking Rayes to reconsider, he also has filed a notice of appeal.
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