VIRGINIA - A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to keep former President Donald Trump from the ballot in Virginia.
The dismissal was handed down on Friday, December 29th by United States District Court in Virginia’s Eastern District Judge Leonie Brinkema. Judge Brinkema was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993.
In her decision to dismiss the case, Judge Brinkema argued the Court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction and therefore could not reach the merits of the plaintiff’s claims in the lawsuit.
The suit, brought by Roy L. Perry-Bey, argued Trump engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the US Constitution and was therefore disqualified from seeking the office. The plaintiffs asked the Virginia State Board of Elections and Virginia Department of Elections to keep the former president from participating in the 2024 Primary.
“This increasingly litigated legal question of whether former President Trump may be disqualified from running for or serving in public office raises issues of the utmost importance in our democratic system of self-governance,” Judge Brinkema said in her Memorandum Opinion of the dismissal.
Efforts to bar Trump from state ballots have increased since a Colorado Supreme Court decision to disqualify the former president based on his role in the January 6th, 2021 riots at the Capitol.
