U.S. District Court Judge Joshua Kindred on Friday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from appearing on Alaska’s election ballots this fall.
Kindred, a Trump appointee, cited technical flaws with the lawsuit and concluded that it failed to state a proper claim, failed to demonstrate that the court had jurisdiction and concluded that “plaintiff’s claims are unsupported by any cognizable legal theory.”
The plaintiff, John Anthony Castro, is a long-shot presidential candidate recently accused of filing false tax returns. Castro has filed dozens of similar federal lawsuits across the country. Thirty-five states have seen Trump’s candidacy challenged by Castro or other plaintiffs, but most challenges have either failed or not yet been decided.
In Colorado, where the state supreme court ruled that Trump had violated the insurrection clause of the 14th amendment, its ruling came from a state-court challenge. Maine, which has also disqualified Trump’s candidacy, did so with a decision by its secretary of state.
Both decisions have been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is considering the issue.
No challenges have been filed in Alaska state courts against Trump’s qualifications as a candidate, and Castro’s suit was the only one in Alaska federal courts.
In his ruling, Kindred cited technical flaws with Castro’s filing.
“Several other courts have dismissed similar complaints filed by plaintiff after finding that he did not properly allege standing or subject matter jurisdiction in those cases. For the same reasons, this case must be dismissed,” Kindred wrote.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. This article originally appeared online at alaskabeacon.com. Alaska Beacon, an affiliate of States Newsroom, is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government.
