INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled that John Rust, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Indiana, will not be eligible for the upcoming Republican primary.
According to an order filed Thursday, the justices ruled that a majority of the court voted to stay the Marion County Court ruling from December that allowed Rust on the Republican primary ballot. The ruling would prevent the original ruling from Marion County to move forward.
This comes after the Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales, as well as the Indiana Election Commission and Amanda Lowery, the Jackson County Republican County Chair, challenged the original ruling that allowed Rust to run as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat.
According to previous reports, a court ruled that a portion of the Indiana Code surrounding the election was unconstitutional. The portion of the code, Indiana Code 3-8-2-7(a)(4), previously prevented Rust from running as a Republican.
That portion of the Indiana Code states that a candidate is considered to be affiliated with a political party only if the most recent Indiana primary election where a candidate votes was a primary election hosted by the party with which the candidate claims affiliation.
According to the ruling, filed on Dec. 7 in Marion County by Judge Patrick Dietrick, he said this portion of the code “unduly burdens Hoosiers’ long-recognized right to freely associate with the political party of one’s choosing and to cast one’s vote effectively.” The order prevented this portion of the code from being enforced by the defendants.
The trial court determined that the statute violated:
- Rust’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution
- The Seventeenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
- Rust’s article one, section 23 rights under the Indiana Constitution.
Rust, according to previous reports, testified he voted Republican in 2016 but did not vote in 2020 when the election was impacted by COVID-19. Before 2016, Rust said he voted in Democratic primaries.
After the ruling, Morales and the defendants appealed the decision, which was taken to the Indiana Supreme Court. The Indiana Supreme Court expedited this direct appeal and heard oral arguments earlier this month.
“Having considered the written submissions and having heard the arguments of counsel, a majority of the Court votes to stay the trial court’s order enjoining enforcement of Indiana Code section 3-8-2-7(a)(4), pending this Court’s forthcoming opinion,” the published order signed by Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush read.
An opinion surrounding this order is expected from the Indiana Supreme Court, according to court documents. According to previous reports, the deadline for a candidate to file a withdrawal of candidacy for the May primary is 12 p.m. on Friday.
FOX59/CBS4 has reached out to Rust for comment on this ruling, as well as U.S. Rep. Jim Banks (R-District 3), a Republican candidate also running for the U.S. Senate seat. This story will be updated if they respond to the request for comment.
