Cook County Judge Removes Trump from March Ballot
Former President Donald Trump at a 2022 rally near Quincy. A Cook County Judge removed Trump from the March ballot Wednesday, finding the former president participated in an insurrection on January 6, 2021.
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Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter removed former President Donald Trump from the Illinois ballot Wednesday, just twenty days before the March 19 primary.
The ruling was essentially following many of the same arguments of Colorado’s ruling to remove Trump from the ballot in that state based on the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court is widely expected to overturn that ruling.
That didn’t stop Porter from wading in on the issue.
“Until the U.S. Supreme Court renders a decision in the [case], now pending before it, reviewing courts are still under a constitutional obligation to apply and interpret the law, and especially, continue the momentum of the electoral process in light of the March general primary elections,” Porter wrote, essentially explaining why she didn’t wait for the Supreme Court ruling.
Porter said she read dictionaries from the post-Civil War reconstruction era to learn if the amendment was written in a way that an “insurrection” applies to a former President today. She said a plain language reading does apply to Trump.
“This court’s final determination on this issue is that [Trump] fails to meet the Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment’s disqualification provision based on engaging in insurrection on January 6, 2021, and his name should be removed from the ballot,” Porter wrote in her 38 page order.
Republicans were quick to condemn the ruling.
“As we've stated repeatedly, the Illinois Republican Party believes the people, not activist courts or unelected bureaucrats, should choose who represents them in the White House," Illinois GOP Chairman Don Tracy said in a statement. "This decision to remove President Trump from the ballot without due process is an affront to democracy and limits the voting rights of Illinois citizens."
“Due process,” is defined as “fair treatment in the judicial system.” Trump’s attorneys participated in the arguments in the case.
Congressman Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro), who has Trump’s support in his battle for re-election against former Sen. Darren Bailey, attacked the judge who made the ruling.
“A Chicago judge has put her will above the will of Illinois’ Republican voters. This is blatant election interference and it must not stand,” Bost said in a statement. “President Trump has never even been charged with insurrection, much less convicted of it. Yet the judge took it upon herself to order the Board of Elections to remove President Trump from the state’s ballot citing an insurrection clause. This egregious move further proves that radical liberals will stop at nothing to prevent President Trump from occupying the White House again.."
Porter stayed her own ruling until March 1 to allow for the Appellate Court of the Illinois Supreme Court to rule on an appeal, which is almost guaranteed to come. It is also stayed until the Supreme Court rules on the issue, meaning early and mail votes for Trump can still be cast.
You can read the ruling here.