2 presidential candidates tossed off SC ballots sue — and one wants Trump off too

COLUMBIA — Two long-shot candidates excluded from South Carolina’s presidential primaries have filed separate lawsuits in federal court — one trying to get on the Democratic ballot, the other trying to kick former President Donald Trump off the Republican ballot.

Both have been rejected by their parties in South Carolina and face extremely long odds of winning their cases here.

But they’re undeterred.

Cenk Uygur, who sued the South Carolina Democratic Party and a host of state officials, says he’s willing to take his fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The founder of the progressive news outlet Young Turks TV wants to challenge President Joe Biden in Democratic presidential primaries. But to do that, he’s challenging a clause in the U.S. Constitution that limits the presidency to citizens born in the United States.

Uygur was born in Turkey, moved to the United States at 8 years old and later became a naturalized citizen.

The Los Angeles resident launched his legal battle in South Carolina federal court Dec. 22 after he filed to be a candidate on the presidential primary ballot here and paid the required $20,000 registration fee to the state Democratic Party.

The party did not include him, citing the Constitution.

He argues the cited section, which dates to the original document ratified in 1788, is discriminatory and has been nullified by subsequent amendments.

South Carolina’s among seven states that have kept Uygur off the ballot, while six others have listed him, according to his campaign.

But he picked South Carolina as the place to sue for several reasons, Uygur told the SC Daily Gazette.

For starters, it will be a new issue for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal court for South Carolina cases has issued no rulings on the clause, unlike at least five others that swatted down a similar attempt by naturalized citizen Abdul Karim Hassan in 2012.

South Carolina’s status as the first-in-the-nation Democratic primary recognized by the national party also played a role, Uygur said.

“It’s an early state, and we need that to be able to get a judgment quickly enough to affect the rest of the race,” he said.

Plus, he believes South Carolina was “particularly egregious” in taking his $20,000 filing fee and then not returning it after rejecting his candidacy. He says the money came from “grassroots donors,” though who’s given him money and how much is unknown. He hasn’t filed any federal campaign disclosures.

That $20,000 is collected by all applicants and sent to the state Election Commission to help pay for the primary. The state party makes clear it is nonrefundable, said state Democratic Party Chairwoman Christale Spain.

The three candidates “who met the requirements to be on the Palmetto State’s first in the nation Democratic primary ballot” were certified, she said in a statement.

They are President Joe Biden and two other long-shot candidates: U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and self-help author Marianne Williamson.

That primary will be Feb. 3. Early voting starts Jan. 22. Absentee ballots to overseas and military ballots have already been sent out.

But Uygur said he’s unconcerned about the timeline. The court can find a solution if it sides with him, he said.

Even if Uygur loses primaries nationwide but still wins the court case, it will be worth it, he said.

His argument is essentially that the Constitution is unconstitutional, based on several later amendments and federal laws.

It largely rests on the 14th Amendment, which says all persons “born or naturalized in the United States” are citizens, and no state can diminish the rights of citizens. Ratified in 1868, the amendment was about recognizing and protecting former slaves as citizens. Congress required former Confederate states like South Carolina to agree to it before they were readmitted to the Union.

But Uygur argues it also overturns the Founding Fathers’ requirement that presidents must be a “natural born citizen.”

The Republican suing

On the Republican side, John Castro’s lawsuit to remove Trump from South Carolina’s primary ballot is based on a different clause of the 14th Amendment.

He makes similar arguments that led to the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling last month that tossed Trump from that state’s GOP ballot and the Maine secretary of state deciding on her own to remove Trump, who is appealing both decisions.

Trump is among seven Republicans certified for South Carolina’s Feb. 24 ballot. Castro himself is not.

Nevertheless, Castro, a tax attorney who said this is his first foray into election law, claims Trump’s presence on the ballot damages his campaign.

He applied and sent in a check for the state GOP’s $50,000 registration fee, causing the party to initially list him among candidates on a press release in late October. But then he canceled the check.

State GOP Chairman Drew McKissick dismissed Castro’s arguments completely, saying they come from someone who “tried to pay his filing fee with a bad check,” which is why he’s not on the ballot.

In South Carolina, unlike other states, the political parties themselves — not the state election agency or a lone elected official — decide who’s eligible for their primary ballots.

“(Castro) is trying to frustrate the will of voters in South Carolina, and we’ve been able to stop that here in South Carolina,” McKissick said during an interview on Newsmax.

He notes Castro’s lawsuit in South Carolina, one of several states where he’s sued, dates back to last fall. “There’s been no word from the federal judge” since, and the ballots are a done deal, McKissick said.

The case filed Sept. 7 against Trump and the South Carolina Election Commission claims Trump is disqualified from the ballot due to his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. As other anti-Trump lawsuits have done, he cites the clause in the post-Civil War 14th Amendment that bars people from office who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution.

Castro, of Mansfield, Texas, says it’s Trump’s actions he opposes, not his policies.

“There’s almost nothing about Trump’s political policies that I disagree with,” Castro said.

To successfully sue, people must show the court they’re directly harmed by their reason for suing.

In Castro’s case, he argues Trump’s presence on the ballot pulls votes and donations from his own candidacy — an argument that will be very hard to make with Castro not actually on the South Carolina ballot. After getting tossed, he tweaked the lawsuit to also sue the state Republican Party, claiming the $50,000 registration fee is an unconstitutional burden.

“Their first argument, obviously, is going to be ‘he’s not even on the ballot,’” Castro told SC Daily Gazette. So, “the second claim in my lawsuit is that you guys effectively blocked me from … the ballot by setting an outrageously high and unconstitutional fee.”

Other states charge similar fees.

Idaho Republicans also charge $50,000 for example, while the Democrats charge $2,500. But many charge far less. In Colorado, the fee is just $500.

In South Carolina, the whole $50,000 doesn’t go to the Republican Party. Like the Democrats, Republicans send $20,000 to the state. But the GOP charges an additional $30,000 to keep. Regardless, party officials say, the fact he sent in a check that was no good shows Castro is not a serious candidate and lacks standing to sue.

Castro said it’s not that “the check bounced,” as McKissick characterized it.

Rather, he decided that was too much money to lose and stopped payment.

Castro told SC Daily Gazette he was prepared to dip into his child’s college fund to pay the fee. But then the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in another case brought by Castro that the fact he paid a filing fee in that state did not give him standing.

Castro estimated he’s spent $40,000 of his own money on his campaign so far. He didn’t want to risk losing $50,000 without a guarantee that would help his case.

No matter the outcome, Castro said, the lawsuits have given him far more attention than he would have otherwise received, without spending much money.

“Kill multiple birds with one stone: You get to stand behind your principles. It’s your breakout moment,” he said. “People that would have never known your name are now going to know your name. And that can lay the foundation in the future for a more serious run.”

SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: info@scdailygazette.com. Follow SC Daily Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.