A retired judge has recommended to an Illinois election board that former President Donald Trump's name should be removed from the Illinois primary ballot, but he says the decision should be left to the courts.

Former President Donald Trump should be removed from Illinois’ primary ballot, but the decision should be left to the courts, a retired judge recommended Sunday to the state’s election board, arguing that it was clear Trump engaged in insurrection in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Illinois State Board of Elections is expected to consider the recommendation Tuesday. Attorneys for Trump and citizens seeking to keep the Republican former president off the ballot presented their arguments Friday before the hearing officer, Clark Erickson. The retired longtime Kankakee County judge is a Republican.

The Illinois effort to keep Trump off the March ballot is similar to those filed in several other states. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments next month in an historic Colorado Supreme Court ruling to remove Trump from that state’s ballot. The case presents the high court with its first look at a provision of the 14th Amendment barring some people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office.

Erickson’s 21-page recommendation concluded that a “preponderance of the evidence” presented proves that Trump engaged in insurrection.

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
    13·
    8 months ago

    Also, I can’t state this enough, he personally participated in a phone call that convinced election officials in seven states to forge elector documents and mail them in in an effort to falsely claim victory over the election he lost.

    And they did that. He called them up.

    That’s crazy. That seems like more of a reason to keep him off the ballot than anything else.