The legal strategy favored by Republicans aimed at blocking Democratic administration policies is now shifting to stymie former President Donald Trump and his hopes of winning the 2024 election.
Republican presidential candidate John Castro, who is challenging Trump’s candidacy in at least 14 states, is using Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 65, which allows courts to issue lawsuits against Trump. Preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order. Trump’s 2024 campaign.
“If you take advantage of this special Rule 65 correctly, you can actually have a court trial on the merits within 14 days. That’s absolutely crazy,” Castro told Weekly newspaper. “I have opened a case and within 14 days we will go to court on the merits. Whatever the judge decides will stand until the end of the trial.”
In recent years, Rule 65 has been used by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, among others, to prevent President Joe Biden’s immigration policies from taking effect. Using the special civil lawsuit, Republicans in border states sued to protect pandemic-era Title 42 coronavirus restrictions on asylum and block Biden’s 100-day moratorium on deportations.
Paxton also used the rule in 2018 to file a nationwide injunction to stop former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, commonly known as DACA.
Now Castro hopes to use that rule against Trump.
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“This is one thing that the conservative movement abused to get a nationwide injunction against the Biden administration and also during the Obama administration,” he said. “They were really good at doing that. Now it’s coming back to haunt them. “
Castro is asking judges across the country to consider his lawsuit challenging Trump’s 2024 candidacy, which he says is unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.
Castro cited Trump’s role in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, arguing that Trump “engaged in an insurrection or insurrection against the United States” and the United States barred him from running for office. He also argued that he would personally suffer “political competitive harm” because Trump’s candidacy would alienate voters and donors from his 2024 campaign.
On Monday, a federal judge in Arizona agreed to schedule a preliminary injunction hearing on Castro’s lawsuit for October 23.
“If a judge in Arizona says, ‘I’m going to grant a preliminary injunction,’ [and] this [case’s] “The filing deadline is November 10th to December 11th, and it’s impossible to have a trial so quickly. So Trump will immediately protest loudly, he will say, ‘This is not fair.'” This is basically Guaranteed I won’t vote in Arizona. “
“At that point, his only recourse is to go to the Supreme Court and ask them to intervene, because if he tries to appeal, I mean, you’re talking about the liberal Ninth Circuit — that Dead on arrival.” “So it’s a very good legal strategy. It’s going to put him in trouble.”
