An Illinois judge on Wednesday barred Donald Trump from voting in the Illinois Republican presidential primary because of his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, but he is expected to appeal his decision. The enforcement of the judgment was delayed in consideration of this. President of the United States.
Cook County Circuit Judge Tracy Porter removed the former president from the state’s March 19 primary and November 5 general election ballots for violating the 14th Amendment’s anti-insurrection clause. He sided with Illinois voters who said it should be done.
Illinois joins Colorado and Maine in shutting Trump down for his role in the Jan. 6 riot in which Congress tried to block the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. They are trying to disqualify him from running for office. In the riot, Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
President Trump is currently appealing those decisions to the Supreme Court, which is likely to reject states’ attempts to remove the former president from ballots.
The Colorado and Maine decisions are on hold while Trump appeals them. Porter also said he would put his own decision on hold because he expects Trump to appeal to the Illinois appellate court and potentially receive a ruling from the Supreme Court.
Free Speech for the People, an advocacy group that spearheaded the Illinois disbarment effort, hailed the ruling in a statement as a “historic victory.”
A campaign spokesperson for Trump, the nation’s front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, said in a statement that the ruling was “unconstitutional and we will promptly appeal the ruling.”
In oral arguments on February 8, the U.S. Supreme Court appeared skeptical of arguments to exclude Trump from Colorado’s primary ballot, with analysts predicting the court would allow Trump to remain on the ballot. suggested something.
The court’s Chief Justice John Roberts said that if the Supreme Court upholds Colorado’s exclusion of President Trump’s votes, the “huge and obvious consequence” of the decision would be that states would regularly elect candidates from opposing parties. He suggested that the scenario would be for him to be disqualified.
“We expect that a significant number of states will have whoever the Democratic candidate is off the ballot, and other states that the Republican candidate will be off the ballot. Only one will decide the presidential election. It’s going to be a handful of states. That’s a pretty scary outcome,” Robert said.
“What is a state doing, deciding who other citizens can vote for in a presidential election?” asked liberal justice Elena Kagan.
The justices focused more on the potential impact of their decision than on whether Trump committed an insurrection on January 6 and should therefore be removed from office.
Colorado and maine The state previously ruled that Trump was disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and removed him from the state’s ballot.
Article III prohibits the removal from public office of anyone who takes an oath to uphold the Constitution and then “engages in insurrection or insurrection against the Constitution, or gives aid or comfort to enemies of the Constitution.”
Reuters contributed to this report
