A Democrat state judge in Illinois ordered on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump must be removed from the presidential ballot, claiming that Trump engaged in insurrection during the January 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol.
Judge Tracie R. Porter of the State Circuit Court in Cook County ruled that the State Board of Elections “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.”
Porter stayed her order, giving Trump until Friday to appeal her ruling while early voting in the state’s presidential primary is already underway.
“The Soros-funded Democrat front-groups continue to attempt to interfere in the election and deny President Trump his rightful place on the ballot,” a spokesperson for the Trump Campaign said in a statement. “Today, an activist Democrat judge in Illinois summarily overruled the state’s board of elections and contradicted earlier decisions from dozens of other state and federal jurisdictions. This is an unconstitutional ruling that we will quickly appeal. In the meantime, President Trump remains on the Illinois ballot, is dominating the polls, and will Make America Great Again!”
Porter said that Trump should be kept off the ballot because of the 14th Amendment ban on insurrectionists holding office despite the fact that Trump has never been charged with insurrection in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6 case against the former president in Washington, D.C.
Porter’s ruling overturns the State Board of Elections’ ruling last month to keep Trump on the ballot after a group of voters accused Trump of engaging in insurrection.
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The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering the issue of Trump’s eligibility after he was kicked off the ballot in Colorado following a small group of voters pulling a similar tactic to remove him.
Section 3 of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment bans former officeholders who “engaged in insurrection” from ever holding public office again.
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” Section 3 of the 14 Amendment states.