Illinois’ Cook County Democrat Judge Tracie Porter ruled that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to be on IL’s Presidential ballot due to violations of the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.” Done in advance of the March 19th primary, the ruling is in a stay status until March 1st, with the anticipation Trump will file an appeal of the decision.
As the ruling read, “The Illinois State Board of Election shall remove Donald J. Trump from the ballot for the General Primary Election on March 19, 2024, or cause any votes cast for him to be suppressed, according to the procedures within their administrative authority.” Coming a month following an anti-Trump measure was unanimously thrown out by the IL State Board of Elections, they claimed that they do not have the jurisdiction to rule on the issue.
Now, the third state to remove Trump from the GOP ballot, they could find themselves joining others as they wait for a Supreme Court ruling. Filed by a left-wing funded legal advocacy group called Free Speech For People, they have previously failed in challenging his presence on the ballot in Michigan, Minnesota, and Oregon.
At the crux of the argument from Trump’s attorneys is that this was a “political riot.” Attorney Nicholas Nelson specified, “It was about one government act, and there’s no indication that the rioters had any plan. They were just angry.” A defense like this is similar to the same defense Black Lives Matter organizers used to justify their protests infamously morphing into riots. In the period following the death of George Floyd, many of these protests involved heavy looting and rioting. In Chicago specifically, Trump was cited as being part of the cause for these protests as well.
