The Ohio Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to knock Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy off the November ballot over questions about his citizenship, ruling unanimously and without comment that the challenge failed to hold up. The suit, filed by former East Cleveland mayor Eric Brewer, argued that Secretary of State Frank LaRose needed to verify Ramaswamy's U.S. citizenship before certifying him as the GOP nominee for governor.
According to Cleveland.com, Brewer filed his case just one week after Ramaswamy won Ohio's May 5 Republican primary, and the state's high court granted LaRose's motion to dismiss the lawsuit outright. The court found that Brewer lacked standing to sue and that he had other avenues available to challenge Ramaswamy's eligibility outside of litigation. Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati in 1985, and his parents were born in India before moving to the United States in the early 1970s, per the same report.
Brewer's Claims Never Alleged Illegal Status
Notably, Brewer did not claim that Ramaswamy's parents were in the country illegally when he was born — his challenge centered instead on alleged uncertainties about their immigration status at the time. Ramaswamy's campaign moved to close that gap in May, publicly disclosing that both of his parents held green cards as lawful permanent residents when he was born in Cincinnati, according to the Toledo Blade.
Brewer's War on Guns-documented filings had sought writs of mandamus and prohibition directing LaRose to submit a federal immigration verification form, DHS Form G-845, to check candidate parentage before primary certification. The Ohio Supreme Court currently holds a 6-1 Republican majority following recent judicial elections statewide, per the Statehouse News Bureau, a composition that makes the unanimous, uncommented dismissal notable even as it tracks with existing federal law.
Supreme Court Precedent Loomed Over the Case
The legal ground under Brewer's challenge had already shifted before he filed it. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. Barbara on June 30, 2026, that the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause guarantees birthright citizenship to children born in the United States regardless of their parents' legal status, finding that birthright citizenship arguments similar to Brewer's were contrary to existing law. President Trump had issued a 2025 executive order seeking to deny citizenship to some U.S.-born children, specifying that children born in the United States would not be citizens if their parents were illegally or temporarily present, but the Supreme Court's ruling overturned that order.
Trump has since signed a narrower Executive Order 14418 on August 6, seeking exceptions to birthright citizenship for children of foreign government employees and members of designated terrorist organizations, according to the White House. Ramaswamy himself has not said whether he opposes citizenship for children of temporary visa holders, though he opposed automatic citizenship for U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants during his 2024 presidential campaign.
A Bruising Primary Preceded the Court Fight
Ramaswamy's citizenship became a target during the primary campaign too. Primary rival Casey Putsch referred to Ramaswamy at one point as a “dung beetle” and at another as a “Hindu anchor baby,” Cleveland.com reported, ahead of Ramaswamy's landslide 82.4 percent primary win over Putsch with 676,562 votes, per MultiState.
Brewer, who resides in Oakwood, previously served as mayor of East Cleveland from 2006 through 2009, made an unsuccessful bid to become mayor of Cleveland, and later switched party affiliation to run as a Republican for Ohio's 11th Congressional District in 2022, according to WKYC.
Ramaswamy Now Turns to a Competitive General Election
With the lawsuit dismissed, Ramaswamy's campaign turns fully toward November, when he faces former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton, who won the uncontested Democratic nomination on May 5. An August Tulchin Research poll showed Acton leading or in a tight race against Ramaswamy, according to Newsweek, as Democrats seek to win Ohio's governorship for the first time in 20 years. If elected, Ramaswamy would become Ohio's first nonwhite governor.
The dismissal caps months of scrutiny for the campaign, which launched a $10 million ad blitz across Ohio back in March featuring law enforcement endorsements and an introduction to his family. Ramaswamy has also weathered a resurfaced video controversy over his faith and questions about a donor's college scam ties in the months since.
