Donald Trump will no longer be on the Illinois Republican primary ballots following a Cook County judge’s decision to support electors who wanted to remove him for his alleged role in the Capitol riot on January 6. After Maine and Colorado, this is the third state to attempt to prevent the former president from being listed on their ballots.
Cook County Circuit Judge Tracy Porter rendered the verdict, siding with Illinois voters and claiming that Trump’s acts on January 6, 2021, were in violation of the 14th Amendment’s anti-insurrection provision. Porter’s ruling remains in effect despite an appeal by Trump’s legal team, eliminating Trump from the March 19 primary ballot and the November 5 general election ballot.
The question of interpretation of the 14th Amendment and whether the events of January 6 qualify as an insurrection are at the center of the legal issue. Porter’s ruling is consistent with the Colorado Supreme Court’s conclusions, which the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to maintain while it considers the case.
Porter instructed the state elections board to remove Trump from the ballot or stifle any votes cast in his favor, acknowledging the impact of his decision on the next Illinois elections. The ruling follows the denial of a comparable challenge by the Illinois State Board of Elections, which cited jurisdictional concerns.
A group of voters supported by the legal advocacy group Free Speech for the People, which had tried similar measures in Michigan, Minnesota, and Oregon before, filed a challenge to Trump’s candidacy. Trump’s legal team contended that the January 6 events were not a planned rebellion with predetermined legal goals, but rather a political riot.
Porter’s choice highlights concerns about the standards for excluding candidates from office based solely on their behavior and echoes the current discussion on the ramifications of January 6.
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