Kick Trump off the ballot over Jan. 6

Illinois becomes third state to kick Trump off the ballot over Jan. 6

The Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month on a Colorado ruling that deemed Trump ineligible.

By ZACH MONTELLARO and SHIA KAPOS

Illinois on Wednesday became the third state to declare former President Donald Trump ineligible to run for the presidency because of his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Chicago-based Judge Tracie Porter, an elected Democrat, ruled that Trump was not qualified for the presidency under an interpretation of a provision of the 14th Amendment that bars from office those who engaged in an insurrection after previously taking an oath to support the Constitution.

But she put the decision on hold until Friday, leaving Trump on the March 19 primary ballot to allow for an appeal in the case in state court.

Porter’s decision may not stand for long. The Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month on a Colorado ruling that deemed Trump ineligible, and justices across the ideological spectrum seemed skeptical that states have the authority to disqualify presidential candidates under the so-called insurrection clause. The Supreme Court, however, has not yet issued its decision.

The Illinois decision on Wednesday overturns the decision of the bipartisan state board of elections, which voted last month to keep Trump on the ballot because it said it lacked the authority to make constitutional determinations.

The state board of elections had relied heavily on a report from Clark Erickson, a former Republican state judge who served as a hearing officer to the challenge in Illinois. Erickson’s recommendation to the board: It was not allowed to make the call on Trump’s eligibility — but if it believed it could, it should remove Trump.

“Even when giving the Candidate the benefit of the doubt wherever possible, in the context of the events and circumstances of January 6,” Trump committed an insurrection, Erickson wrote.

Porter, the judge, chided the state board for not making any “factual determinations regarding the events” of Jan. 6. Members of the board made clear that “they wanted to get as far away from this case as possible, likely given its notoriety,” she wrote.

In a statement, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung attacked the judge. “This is an unconstitutional ruling that we will quickly appeal,” he said. “In the meantime, President Trump remains on the Illinois ballot, is dominating the polls, and will Make America Great Again!”

Colorado became the first state to find Trump ineligible to run again for the presidency, with the state Supreme Court ruling in December that he was barred for stoking an insurrection on Jan. 6. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows followed a week later by similarly disqualifying Trump from that state’s ballot.

Porter’s decision relied heavily on the proceedings in the Colorado case to establish Trump’s culpability for the attack on the Capitol over three years ago.

She also found that Trump “falsely swore in his statement of candidacy” in Illinois when he signed on the form that he was legally qualified to run for the presidency — because he had already been found to have engaged in an insurrection by the Colorado Supreme Court.

In addition to staying her own ruling to allow for an appeal, Porter explicitly ordered it to be stayed if the U.S. Supreme Court “enters a decision inconsistent” with it.

The Feb. 8 arguments at the high court largely did not touch on the factual issue of Trump’s responsibility for the Jan. 6 riot. Instead, the justices seemed to largely coalesce around the idea that states cannot make the decision on their own.

“Why should a single state have the ability to make this determination, not only for their own citizens but for the rest of the nation?” Justice Elena Kagan asked at one point.