The Illinois State Board of Elections is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether former President Trump should be removed from the state’s primary ballot under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause.
Any future decisions will come after former Republican Judge Clark Erickson, who oversaw Friday’s hearing. Recommended for Sunday The state’s election board rejected a voter’s petition to remove Trump from the ballot, saying it did not have the time or authority to properly consider the issue before the March 19 primary.
“There is no opportunity for meaningful discovery or subpoena of witnesses,” he said, adding that state law “prohibits the Board of Elections from addressing issues involving constitutional analysis.”
But Erickson said there was “overwhelming evidence” that Trump was involved in the insurrection and that if the state election board disagreed with his reasons for rejecting voter petitions, the board would remove the ballots. He wrote that Trump’s name should be removed.
“If the Board decides not to follow the Hearing Officer’s recommendation to grant the nominee’s motion to dismiss, the Hearing Officer will determine by a preponderance of the evidence that the evidence presented at the January 26, 2024 hearing is We recommend that the Board determine that President Trump has committed an insurrection within the meaning of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and that he be removed from the Illinois primary ballot in March 2024. name should be removed,” Erickson wrote.
The Illinois petition, filed by Free Speech on behalf of Illinois voters, is one of similar efforts taking place in states across the country. The Colorado and Maine decisions both ruled that Trump is ineligible to hold public office again under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the Colorado case next month, and the Maine case is on hold pending that decision.
Erickson’s decision is a scathing rebuke of Trump and his actions on January 6th.
Regarding Trump, he said, “While the candidate may not have intended for violence to erupt on January 6, 2021, there are reports that violence is likely to occur on January 6, 2021.” “I am not disputing that I have received this. The candidate is not disputing it,” he wrote. He said he knew violence was occurring at the Capitol. He understood that people would support him. ”
Therefore, Mr. Erickson said that President Trump’s tweet at 2:24 p.m. on January 6, 2021 (former Vice President Mike Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what needed to be done”) was “not a sign of President Trump’s policies. Denial is absolutely condemnable.” Participate. “
“The attackers were aware that the attack was carried out because they believed the election was stolen, and this tweet could not have been intended for anything other than to inflame the flames,” Erickson said. he wrote.
“While it is true that the candidate tweeted calling for peace afterwards, rather than immediately after, he did so after he had incited the flames himself. I judged that these calls for peace, made through the United States, were the result of an attempt to provide plausible deniability to myself.
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