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Former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Nashua, NH, Jan. 23.
© Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
There are disputes in many states over Donald Trump's participation in the Republican primaries.
An election authority in Illinois is also making a decision.
Chicago - The Illinois State Board of Elections has rejected a request to remove Donald Trump from the state's primary election.
A legal challenge had previously been filed.
It said that the former president had violated the so-called insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment.
It is expected that this decision will be appealed.
The petition was submitted by five voters who argued that Trump should not appear on the ballot.
They cited a Civil War-era provision of the U.S. Constitution that bars insurrectionists from holding office and alleged that the former president incited an insurrection to remain in office after the 2020 presidential election.
Trump remains on the ballot in the Illinois primary
After hearing arguments from Trump's legal team and the petitioners, the eight-member election board, made up of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, voted unanimously to reject the petition and keep the former president on the ballot.
The committee was not authorized to comment on this complex constitutional question, it said.
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Matthew Piers, an attorney for voters challenging the former president's eligibility, explained during the election board meeting that the panel "not only has the authority to rule on an appeal based on the U.S. Constitution, but also the unequivocal one." , mandatory duty to do so”.
He also said that Trump "played a leading role in organizing, facilitating, supporting, directing and protecting a concerted, armed and violent invasion, seizure and disruption of the Congress of the United States on January 6, when the members of that body met." to carry out their constitutional duty to certify the electoral votes.”
Trump lawyer Adam Merrill countered Piers' arguments and urged the committee to allow Trump on the primary election ballot.
He argued that there was "no precedent" to indicate that the committee could intervene on the issue and also claimed that Trump did not incite an insurrection or incite violence on January 6, 2021.
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A Republican member of the Board of Elections, Catherine McCrory, said during the vote that she wanted to make it clear that she "believes there was an insurrection on January 6th."
“I have no doubt that [Trump] manipulated, incited, aided and abetted an insurrection on January 6th.
However, it is not my job to decide on this today.
So I will approve the request as I do not have the authority to decide on this fact today,” she added.
Clark Erickson, an election hearing officer, had previously argued that the decision on Trump's eligibility should be left to the courts rather than election officials because of the complex constitutional issues at play.
But Erickson, a retired judge and Republican, also said he believes there is a "preponderance of evidence" that Trump was involved in an insurrection and should be banned from the 2024 US election.
US primaries: Supreme Court wants to decide on Trump's participation
The legal team behind the petition is expected to immediately appeal the committee's decision.
“On appeal, we expect that the Illinois courts will uphold Judge Erickson's thoughtful analysis of why Trump is disqualified from holding office, but - with the utmost respect - correct him and the panel as to why Illinois law defies this decision Trump’s subjective belief that the Constitution does not apply to him,” Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech for People, said in a statement.
The group is leading the lawsuit along with law firm Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym and Illinois election law attorney Ed Mullen.
The Illinois decision comes days before the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear a case involving the state of Colorado's decision to bar Trump from the election there.
The Colorado Supreme Court had disqualified Trump on the grounds that he incited an insurrection before and during the attack on the US Capitol in 2021.
Similar arguments have been made in other states to bar Trump from the election.
The Illinois GOP primary is March 19.
About the author
Maegan Vazquez
is a political news reporter.
She has worked for The Washington Post since 2023.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on January 30, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.