MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The plaintiffs bringing the lawsuit claiming that Tommy Tuberville does not meet the constitutional requirements to be Alabama’s next governor have appealed a judge’s recent dismissal of the case to the Alabama Supreme Court.
Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Brooke Reid ruled last week that the court did not have jurisdiction to hear the case, which was brought as a petition for quo warranto, because Tuberville is not a public state official. Quo warranto has historically been applied to public office holders after they take office, not before.
Tuberville, a current U.S. senator and the Republican nominee for governor, filed a motion to dismiss the case last month, arguing that the matter had already been settled by the Alabama Republican Party’s formal hearing about his residency.
The ruling came after Reid heard arguments from both sides in a Montgomery courtroom earlier this month. Both the hearing and Reid’s decision did not consider the merits of the case, only whether the court was the right place to hear the quo warranto challenge.
The plaintiffs’ appeal, filed by their attorney Barry Ragsdale, was widely expected. Reid acknowledged during the hearing that she expected the state’s highest court to settle the case.
Jordan Doufexis, Tuberville’s campaign chair, said the continued legal challenges amount to political gamesmanship from Democratic nominee Doug Jones and his supporters, calling the effort a “failed residency hoax.”
“They lost on the facts, they lost on the law, and now they are hoping a notice of appeal can breathe life into a political stunt Alabama voters already see through,” Doufexis told Alabama Daily News. “Tommy Tuberville is the senior United States Senator for Alabama. He has a driver’s license, a voter registration, and has been paying taxes here for more than seven years. The only people that question his residency are the Democrats who don’t like his policies.”