Trump to Stay on Illinois Ballot as He Appeals Jan. 6 Ban

Sabrina Willmer and Erik Larson
·3-min read

(Bloomberg) -- An Illinois judge is extending a hold on a Wednesday decision barring Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot over his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, keeping the delay in place until the suit is fully resolved on appeal.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The ruling issued Thursday is a procedural win for Trump because it extends the delay from just a few days to until the challenge plays out on appeal, which could take months. That means a similar case out of Colorado could be resolved by the US Supreme Court first, potentially negating the Illinois challenge.

Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter, who kicked Trump off the ballot, has agreed to extend the pause past Friday after Trump appealed her ruling Wednesday night.

The decision removes the possibility of a fresh showdown threatening Trump’s appearance on a primary ballot, for now. With Porter’s initial ruling, Illinois became the third state to find Trump disqualified by a provision of the 14th Amendment barring insurrectionists from running for office, joining Colorado and Maine. Rulings in all three states have been stayed pending appeals.

This means Trump will be on the GOP ballot when Illinois holds its primary March 19.

The US Supreme Court is already reviewing Trump’s challenge of a similar ruling in Colorado, which may hold implications for other states. The nation’s highest court on Feb. 8 heard arguments in the Colorado case, during which liberal and conservative justices alike questioned whether the Colorado Supreme Court had power to exclude Trump over the Capitol riot.

Justice Elena Kagan cut to the heart of the matter and raised the case’s national implications: “Why should a single state have the ability to make this determination not only for their own citizens but for the rest of the nation?” she asked at that hearing.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung earlier called the Illinois ruling “unconstitutional,” and the former president’s attorneys quickly filed a notice of appeal with the state’s appellate court.

Trump has faced numerous ballot challenges across the country with only a few deciding on the issue. Courts or election officials in 15 other states had ruled in Trump’s favor as of Thursday, according to the Lawfare blog. Efforts to remove him from the ballot have mostly been headed up by two activists groups, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, and Free Speech for People, which are funded by liberal donors such as George Soros and Craig Newmark.

About the Efforts to Keep Trump Off State Ballots: QuickTake

Colorado’s court ruling was the first to conclude that Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election made him ineligible to run again based on the post-Civil War-era clause.

“It’s a significant decision,” said Derek Muller, a law professor at University of Notre Dame who submitted a brief in the Colorado case but supported neither party.

“Trump is now 0-3 in cases where decision-makers have reached the merits, and all have simply held onto the rulings while appeals are pending.”

Colorado, Illinois and Maine all held that Trump should be kicked off the ballot. In January, a Maine judge ruled that the state won’t be able to move forward with the process until the US Supreme Court decides the Colorado case.

In her order, Porter reasoned that courts were still obligated to interpret the law and “continue the momentum of the electoral process in light of the March general primary elections.”

The judge wrote that she leaned on the Colorado decision because it was “well-articulated, rational and established in historical context.”

(Adds reasoning from judge’s ruling in last paragraph. An earlier version of the story corrected the number of states that had ruled to keep Trump on the ballot.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories