A judge in Cook County, Illinois, ruled Wednesday that former President Donald Trump should be taken off of the state's primary ballot because of his role in the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter said that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, commonly referred to as the "insurrection clause," prohibits Trump from appearing on the 2024 Republican primary ballot. The Illinois primary is on March 19.
The decision adds Illinois to the list of states, including Colorado and Maine, where Trump has been declared ineligible on constitutional grounds.
Porter's order, as reported by the NY Times, stipulates 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."
Despite the ruling, early voting for the Illinois primary is already underway, and the judge stayed her decision until Friday. The temporary stay grants Trump the opportunity to appeal the order and ensures his name remains on the ballot, at least until the end of the week.
Following the ruling, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, "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."
Illinois now becomes the third and most populous state to bar Trump from the primary ballot based on constitutional grounds. Similar rulings occurred in Colorado and Maine, where the Supreme Court and Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, respectively, found Trump ineligible. The former president has appealed these decisions, framing the attempts to remove him from ballots as anti-democratic.
The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments on the Colorado appeal, questioning the reasoning behind disqualifying Trump. Justices expressed skepticism across the ideological spectrum, but a ruling date remains unclear.
