Trump Challenger Has Backup Plan if Supreme Court Won't Kick Him Off Ballot

The Republican presidential candidate challenging Donald Trump's 2024 candidacy in the courts has a backup plan if the Supreme Court refuses to weigh in.

"I'm securing the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 9th, and 10th Circuits to hedge against SCOTUS inaction or, less likely, a 4-4 deadlock if Thomas is disqualified," John Anthony Castro wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.

Castro has filed lawsuits in at least 14 states, as well as a Supreme Court petition, contesting Trump's candidacy under the 14th Amendment's disqualification clause, which prohibits individuals who have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the U.S. from holding public office.

In his lawsuits, the Texas Republican argues that the former president's role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot should prevent Trump from running and that allowing Trump to appear on the 2024 ballot would cause him and his campaign "a political competitive injury in the form a diminution of votes."

Trump has not been charged with insurrection in any of the indictments against him.

Castro did not just file these lawsuits in red circuits where Trump would see his greatest support, but also in blue circuits that could stifle Trump's campaign in rare red states that defer to the rulings of blue circuits.

For example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit oversees the district courts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. While the court is more liberal-leaning, Alaska, Idaho and Montana, which are under the Ninth Circuit's appellate jurisdiction, all went to Trump in 2020.

If the court sides with Castro, Trump's name wouldn't appear on any of the ballots in those states, as well as highly competitive Arizona and Nevada.

"This is Operation Deadlock," Castro said of his strategy.

Castro told Newsweek that he filed so many lawsuits because even with a liberal court, there is a chance he could get a Trump-appointed judge.

"When you file a federal court case, it's a lottery," he said last Tuesday. "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."

The other legal strategy he's deploying is one that has long been used by Republicans to block policy changes by Democratic administrations. Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is a statute that allows a court to issue a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order. Citing the rule, a plaintiff could get a bench trial on the merits of the case within 14 days, speeding up the timeline for what is typically a lengthy process.

"It's absolutely crazy," Castro previously told Newsweek. "I filed the case and within 14 days, boom, we're going to have a bench trial on the merits. And whatever the judge decides is going to hold true until the end of the trial."

"It's been the one thing that the conservative movement has abused to get these nationwide injunctions against the Biden administration and also during the Obama administration," Castro said. "They were really good at doing that. Now this is sort of coming back to haunt them."