A judge has ordered that Donald Trump be removed from the Illinois election and that none of the votes cast be counted because of his participation in the 1/6 insurrection.
Trump removed from Illinois ballot
Judge Tracie Porter ruled:
The case was brought forward 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, Justice Porter categorically rejected the Council’s interpretation and overturned the Electoral Council’s decision. He also rejected Trump’s arguments that he did not engage in the insurrection, that he did not take an oath to uphold the Constitution, that the presidency is not an office under the United States, and various other gimmicks that Trump has tried to use to avoid merits. Instead, it found that Donald Trump incited, fomented and facilitated the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021 that invaded the U.S. Capitol, nearly assassinated the Vice President and congressional leaders, obstructed Congress’s certification of electoral votes for 2020 presidential election and, for the first time in our nation’s history, disrupted the peaceful transfer of power.
Judge Porter ordered the Board of Elections to remove Trump’s name from the ballots. Implementation of the order will be suspended if, by March 1, Trump appeals the ruling to the Illinois Court of Appeals or the Illinois Supreme Court or if the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling in Trump v. . Anderson which is inconsistent with this ruling.
The Trump campaign attacked Judge Porter and vowed to appeal immediately.
What does this ruling mean for Trump politically?
No matter how the Supreme Court rules on the 14th Amendment case, these rulings are all bad news for Trump. The media often looks to Trump’s numbers within the Republican Party to argue that these electoral disqualification rulings do not hurt him politically, but the electorate that matters most in the general electorate, and every time Donald Trump has to defend his inciting an insurrection, harms him with the Independent and swings the voters.
Trump has already demonstrated in the Republican presidential primaries that he is unable to unify his party. A third of Republicans continue to vote for someone other than Donald Trump.
Donald Trump has now been disqualified from the ballot in three states, and with each ruling, he is being labeled a ballot-disqualified insurrectionist.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a member of the 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.
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