A retired judge hired by the Illinois State Board of Elections held a hearing Friday on whether the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” applies to former President Donald Trump.
Several voters filed the challenge against Trump, arguing that Illinois should join Colorado and Maine in removing him from their 2024 presidential ballots based on his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. The decisions in those states were paused pending the outcome of Trump’s appeal of the Colorado case to the US Supreme Court.
Retired Illinois judge Clark Erickson presided over the roughly two-hour hearing in Chicago on Friday. His recommendation is expected to be announced on Tuesday when the full election board meets. The panel will then vote on the recommendation.
An attorney for the challengers, Matthew Piers, asserted that Trump filed “false” paperwork with Illinois election officials when he certified that he was “fully qualified to serve as president.” As a result, Piers argued, Trump “may not be placed on the ballot.”
Piers played harrowing video footage from the assault on the US Capitol, and pointed out that Trump has “repeatedly failed to denounce what happened on January 6 and has recently referred to persons convicted of criminal misconduct on that day as ‘hostages.’”
“What binds us all, in this profession, is the respect for the rule of law,” Piers told the judge at the end of his arguments. “If we lose that, we all might as well find something else to do, or maybe another country to live in. That is what is at the center of this case.”
Trump lawyer Scott Gessler, who defended him in the Colorado case, reiterated many of the defenses that were used to beat back similar cases across the country. Lawsuits have been dismissed on procedural grounds in Michigan, Minnesota and other…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply