Another court has declined to hear a challenge to Tommy Tuberville’s candidacy for governor.
A Jefferson County Circuit Court judge dismissed another lawsuit filed by Tuberville’s challenger in the Alabama Republican primary, ruling that the court lacks jurisdiction in the matter. Judge Chuck Price wrote that a “jurisdiction stripping statute” bars the court from removing a candidate from the ballot.
“This court lacks jurisdiction under Alabama Code 17-16-44, which is more commonly known as the jurisdiction stripping statute,” Price wrote in his order. “Binding authority provides that this statute bars actions that seek to disqualify or remove a candidate from the ballot of an upcoming election. McFeeters’s requested relief would affect the conduct and results of elections and no statute authorizes the … action.”
It is the latest in a string of defeats for those seeking to challenge Tuberville on the basis that he fails to meet the Alabama Constitution’s requirement that a candidate for governor live in the state for the seven years before the election. Documents and public records reported by a variety of media outlets have raised serious legal questions about where Tuberville lives under the law—a modest home in Auburn or a beachfront mansion in Santa Rosa, Florida. But those questions have not been put before a judge or jury because the legal process does not appear to allow a challenge to eligibility before an election.
Instead, political parties determine those challenges through “quasi-legal” proceedings. Tuberville has survived two such party challenges, and he also has weathered three lawsuits filed by McFeeters—state actions in Covington and Jefferson counties and a federal lawsuit that was dismissed in less than a day.
The only pending legal action is an appeal before the Alabama Supreme Court of an order from a Montgomery judge dismissing a quo warranto challenge filed by two military veterans. That challenge differs from the actions filed by McFeeters because it alleges that Tuberville, as the official nominee of the Alabama Republican Party, is now a quasi-state official bound by the constitutional requirements of the office he seeks.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Brooke Reid dismissed the case, saying she could find no precedent allowing her to rule, but she noted that a higher court possibly could. She called the matter “unsettled.”
Price left no such opening in his ruling. In addition to ruling that the statute bars the action McFeeters seeks, Price accused him of “venue shopping” by filing the action in Jefferson County after similar actions failed in Covington County and federal court.
