AUGUSTA, Maine — A longshot Republican presidential candidate has withdrawn a lawsuit seeking to keep former President Donald Trump off Maine’s 2024 ballot by claiming he is ineligible because of the U.S. Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021.
John Anthony Castro, a Texas tax consultant, filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of his lawsuit on Sept. 29, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine closed the case on Oct. 3, according to a new court filing. The dismissal came after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Castro’s appeal of a ruling that he lacked standing to seek Trump’s disqualification.
Castro filed suits in Maine and numerous other states in September, arguing the 14th Amendment disqualifies people from holding office who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.
He argued Trump provided “aid or comfort” to an insurrection by expressing sympathy to supporters who stormed the Capitol, assaulted police and tried to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 election. Castro also argued Trump disqualified himself by saying he would consider pardoning convicted Jan. 6 defendants if he were elected again to the White House.
Castro withdrew his cases in Maine and a few other states because he revised his strategy to focus on remaining lawsuits in 15 states with judges he views as more open to his arguments, he said Thursday.
Trump has been indicted this year in four pending cases, including one alleging he sought to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Biden and stoked the Jan. 6 riot while repeating baseless claims about election fraud. He is the first former president indicted in U.S. history but remains the clear favorite to win the Republican primary and face Biden next year.
Other lawsuits from different groups are also seeking to block Trump from the ballot in various states and remain pending in court. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Attorney General Aaron Frey, both Democrats, have also joined election officials in several states in reviewing statutes to determine if Trump is eligible for the 2024 ballot.
A spokesperson for Bellows noted Thursday that presidential candidates seeking to appear on Maine’s ballot must turn in petitions by Dec. 1. The deadline to challenge any petitions is five business days later. That is when challenges to Trump’s eligibility may come.
Some conservative legal scholars have argued Trump is constitutionally barred from running again for president due to his role in the Jan. 6 riot, but other experts have cast doubt on whether Trump’s legal issues would prevent him from doing so.