A judge has ordered that Donald Trump be removed from the ballot in Illinois and that none of the votes he gathers be counted due to his participation in the 1/6 insurrection.
Trump Removed From The Ballot In Illinois
The case was brought by the non-partisan democracy advocacy group Free Speech For People who reacted to the ruling in a statement:
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In today’s ruling, Judge Porter categorically rejected the Board’s interpretation and reversed the Electoral Board. She also rejected Trump’s arguments that he did not engage in insurrection, that he did not swear an oath to support the Constitution, that the presidency is not an office under the United States, and various other gimmicks that Trump tried to use to avoid the merits. Instead, she found that Donald Trump incited, fomented, and facilitated the violent January 6, 2021 insurrection that overran the U.S. Capitol, nearly assassinated the vice president and congressional leaders, obstructed the congressional certification of electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election, and, for the first time in our nation’s history, disrupted the peaceful transfer of power.
Judge Porter ordered the Electoral Board to remove Trump’s name from ballots. Implementation of the order is stayed if, by March 1, Trump appeals the ruling to the Illinois Appellate Court or Illinois Supreme Court or if the US Supreme Court issues a ruling in Trump v. Anderson which is inconsistent with this ruling.
The Trump campaign attacked Judge Porter and vowed to immediately appeal.
What Does This Ruling Politically Mean For Trump?
No matter how the Supreme Court rules in the 14th Amendment case, these rulings are all bad news for Trump. The media often looks at Trump’s numbers within the Republican Party to claim that these rulings of ballot disqualification do not politically harm him, but the electorate that matters most in the general electorate, and anytime that Donald Trump has to defend his incitement of an insurrection, it harms him with Independent and swings voters.
Trump has already shown in the Republican presidential primary that he is failing to unify his party. One-third of Republicans continue to vote for someone else who is not Donald Trump.
Donald Trump has now been disqualified from the ballot in three states, and with each ruling, he is being labeled an insurrectionist who is disqualified from the ballot.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
