A judge in Washington state denied a request to remove former President Donald Trump from the state's primary ballot and dismissed the case amid questions over the president's eligibility.
Several residents of Washington sued to try to get Trump removed from the ballot, citing the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment.
The judge had to consider whether the state has the authority to remove a candidate based on the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause. The amendment, which was ratified three years after the end of the Civil War, says that those who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the U.S. are disqualified from state or federal office.
The ruling comes a month after officials in Colorado successfully petitioned to have Trump removed from the presidential ballot there. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Dec. 19 that Trump is ineligible to appear on the state ballot.
US Supreme Court agrees to hear Trump's Colorado ballot case
The justices acknowledged the need to reach a decision quickly, as voters will soon begin casting presidential primary ballots across the country.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, has repeatedly said that Trump's actions leading up to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, should disqualify him from the ballot.
Trump protested the results of the 2020 presidential election naming Joe Biden as the winner and held a rally moments before his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol during the counting of Electoral College votes, disrupting the proceedings.
The Supreme Court has said it would weigh in on whether states have the ability to keep a candidate like Trump off the ballot due to the 14th Amendment.
The state of Maine said it would wait for the Supreme Court's decision before deciding once and for all if Trump's name can remain on the ballot.
While the case in Washington applied specifically for the primary election, the judge declined to rule on Trump's eligibility for the general election ballot.
