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Former President Donald Trump's legal team is adding another date to the pile of hearings, trials and proceedings slated for upcoming months, potentially straining his legal resources.
A federal court in Arizona scheduled the first preliminary injunction hearing in a case challenging Trump's 2024 candidacy on Monday, setting up October 23 to be the first date that a court will hear 14th Amendment arguments regarding the former president's eligibility to appear on the presidential ballot. Trump has been ordered to respond by October 6.
There have been various cases arguing the Constitution's disqualification clause against Trump, although this one, brought by long-shot Republican presidential candidate John Castro, specifically raises concerns about how Trump's candidacy creates a personal disadvantage to GOP candidates running against him. Castro has filed these cases in at least 14 states.
It's not only cases that directly threaten Trump's ability to run for the White House again that his attorneys have had to fend off, but also the criminal and civil cases that have arisen in New York, Georgia and the federal circuits. They may also have to turn their efforts towards the Supreme Court should the justices hear the petition that Castro filed with the high court, which would put all of Castro's filings on the table.
"Everybody was wondering, 'What are you doing? Why are you filing suit in so many different states? How are you going to manage all of that?'" Castro told Newsweek. "When you file a federal court case, it's a lottery. You don't know what judge is going to be assigned. Even if it's a liberal district, you can still end up getting a very conservative judge. And likewise, even if it's a very conservative district, you can end up getting a liberal judge."
"I'm basically sidelining and neutralizing the influence of conservative judges," Castro said. "Now I get to nonsuit those cases and only proceed with the ones where I got Obama-appointed judges or Clinton-appointed judges like Judge Douglas Rayes in Arizona, who has now just scheduled the nation's first hearing on whether to kick Trump off the ballot."
Trump's attorneys will also have to come face-to-face with another slew of proceedings that could cause problems for the former president's 2024 campaign, although his candidacy isn't a direct aim of those challenges.
For starters, the four unprecedented indictments against Trump are all headed towards trials early next year.
The first trial, which is for the federal election interference case, is scheduled to begin March 4, 2024, a day before Super Tuesday. Weeks later, the New York criminal trial related to the hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels will begin on March 25. In May, federal prosecutors will begin the criminal trial against Trump in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. A date for Trump's trial in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' sweeping RICO case has yet to be determined.
There are also two civil trials in Manhattan that will take place in the next four months.
In less than two weeks, New York Attorney General Letitia James will bring her case accusing Trump, the Trump Organization and his sons of lying about the value of their assets. James is seeking at least $250 million and for an order banning the Trumps from running any business in New York state. Trump is seeking to get the case dismissed before trial.
Then on January 15, jurors in Manhattan will decide how much Trump will have to pay for defaming columnist E. Jean Carroll, who won $5 million earlier this year in a separate case where jurors found Trump liable for sexually assaulting her in a changing room in the 1990s. The former president is appealing that verdict.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump via email for comment.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more