A Cook County judge said Friday she will decide late next week the fate of a legal challenge seeking to strike former President Donald Trump’s name from Illinois’ March 19 Republican primary ballot.
Judge Tracie Porter announced her plans after a near four-hour Daley Center hearing that featured footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol as attorneys for Trump sought to cast the challenge to the former president’s place on the ballot as a political attempt to “abuse the election code of Illinois.”
Caryn Lederer, representing the group of voters backed by the group Free Speech for People that is objecting to Trump’s place on the ballot, countered that “this case is not about politics.”
“This case is about candidate qualifications,” she told Porter. “This is not an investigation into policy decisions.”
At issue is an appeal of last month’s decision by the State Board of Elections to reject an effort to disqualify Trump from the primary ballot under the “insurrection clause” of the U.S. Constitution due to his role in the deadly riot in the U.S. Capitol, which was aimed at preventing the count of Electoral College votes from the states that made Democrat Joe Biden president.
The clause says those who have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution “as an officer of the United States,” shall not be able to serve in Congress or “hold any office, civil or military” if they have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution.
In its 8-0 bipartisan vote, the elections board on Jan. 30 allowed Trump’s name to stay on the ballot and rejected an objection that he “knowingly” lied by signing a statement of candidacy attesting he was qualified to hold the office of the presidency.
The objectors took the decision to state court, while at the same time the U.S. Supreme Court deliberates a similar “insurrection clause” challenge from Colorado, whose Supreme Court voted 4-3 to disqualify Trump from that state’s ballot.
Attorneys representing Trump in the Illinois case unsuccessfully sought an appellate court stay of the circuit court proceedings. Lawyers on both sides say regardless of Judge Porter’s decision, which she said will come Thursday or Friday, the matter is headed to the Illinois Supreme Court.
“What makes the most sense is to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule,” said Trump attorney Adam Merrill, who noted that the Board of Elections said in its ruling that “no factual determinations were made regarding the events of Jan. 6.”
But the Trump objectors said the elections board erred when it said it was prohibited by previous state court rulings from considering “constitutional” issues such as Trump’s qualifications to hold office under the “insurrection clause.”
“The reality is the State Board of Elections is the place to determine if Jan. 6 was an insurrection or if Donald Trump engaged in an insurrection,” Lederer said. “Our democracy was attacked on Jan. 6. There is no serous dispute that President Trump’s efforts to stop the transfer of power as a reason … to keep him in power and keep him as president.”
Trump attorney Nicholas Nelson contended that the events of Jan. 6 were not an insurrection in the legal sense and said that Trump has denied participating in an insurrection. “It’s not enough (that) a riot happened for political reasons,” he said, adding that the “key element” of an “end game” was missing from the day’s events.
Porter asked if intent is also a factor in concluding whether an insurrection had occurred. Trump attorneys acknowledged it is.
The Trump objectors also argued that regardless of how the U.S. Supreme Court may rule, the judge must address the election board’s ruling that a candidate must “knowingly lie” about their qualifications on their candidacy statement to be disqualified.
Trump attorney Merrill said that with the primary date rapidly approaching, ballots have already been printed and “it’s too late for the ballot to be changed.” But Lederer noted that in the past, election officials have notified voters if a candidate is deemed ineligible and that those votes won’t be counted.
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