Requested injunction to halt Trump rally denied

President Trump greets supporters at Ocala International Airport during a visit to the area last year.

A Marion County judge has denied a request for an injunction to halt President Donald Trump’s rally in Ocala this afternoon.

In an order filed Friday morning, Judge Edward Scott booted the lawsuit to stop the event, scheduled for 4 p.m. at Ocala International Airport, after determining the plaintiff, Marion County resident Chanae Jackson, offered no proof that allowing it to procced would be harmful.

Jackson, in a lawsuit filed late Wednesday afternoon, suggested the gathering was a potential COVID-19 super-spreader event. Her lawsuit argued that Trump has not proven he is fully over his bout with coronavirus, and that he and his followers routinely disregard mask-wearing and social distancing.

That, she maintained, would possibly harm her family, since two of her children have already contracted COVID-19.

Yet Scott, according to his order, declared that she failed to provide verified evidence to support the accusation, as required by court rules.

“There was no sworn allegations that Jackson will suffer immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage if the injunction is not granted,” Scott wrote.

“To be the subject of an injunction, a prospective injury must be more than a remote possibility; it must be so imminent and probable as reasonably to demand preventive action by the court,” the judge added.

Scott noted that he found “the unsworn complaint is legally insufficient” for granting an injunction.