A judge in Illinois declared, on Wednesday, that Donald Trump was ineligible due to his actions during the attack on the Capitol building, and ordered ballots in his name during the Republican primaries in that state to be withdrawn.
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This decision, similar to the decisions of the states of Maine and Colorado, comes as the Supreme Court with a conservative majority, the pinnacle of the American judiciary, must determine whether Donald Trump’s actions during the assault on the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 make them ineligible.
The chances of a Supreme Court ruling against the former president are low, as judges want to avoid at all costs being exposed to suspicions of election interference.
But Illinois Judge Tracy Porter, a Democrat, said Wednesday that the former president should be removed from ballots in the Illinois Republican primary, scheduled for March 19, “or votes cast in his favor should be deleted.”
Stephen Cheung, a spokesman for Donald Trump's campaign, said he had appealed the decision: “Today, a Democratic judge (…) in Illinois summarily dismissed the state election commission and contradicted previous decisions in dozens of other federal and state jurisdictions.”
The latter is based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It excludes from the highest public office anyone who has engaged in acts of “rebellion” after taking an oath to defend the Constitution. Adopted in 1868, the amendment then targeted supporters of the Southern Confederacy, which was defeated during the Civil War (1861-1865).
Of the 30 states where disqualification appeals were filed against Donald Trump, two were successful, in Colorado and Maine. However, many states are awaiting a final Supreme Court ruling.
