A Cook County judge’s ruling to remove Donald Trump from the Illinois primary ballot is null and void now that the Supreme Court overturned the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify Trump from holding office, CBS News reported.
On February 28, Cook County Judge Tracie Porter ordered that Trump’s name be removed from the March 19 primary ballot after a group of voters in the state challenged the unanimous decision by the Illinois State Board of Elections in January to keep Trump’s name on the ballot.
Porter wrote in her decision that the election board’s decision was “clearly erroneous” since the Colorado Supreme Court had already ruled that Trump was disqualified from office under Section Three of the 14th Amendment.
Judge Porter imposed a hold on her decision until Friday, March 1 to allow time for the Trump campaign to file an appeal.
Trump’s legal team appealed Porter’s decision on February 29. However, the appellate court is unlikely to take the case now that the Supreme Court has weighed in.
Porter noted in her decision that her ruling would remain on hold if the Supreme Court ruled against the Colorado Supreme Court.
In its decision released on March 4, the Supreme Court ruled in Donald Trump’s favor, effectively putting an end to the efforts in several states, including Illinois.
While the Court did not address whether Trump engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021, primarily because such a question is not for the Supreme Court to decide, the justices did rule that state courts could only disqualify candidates seeking state-level offices, not federal offices, including the presidency.
Illinois attorney Caryn Lederer, who represented the voters challenging the state elections board’s decision, told CBS News that her clients were “disappointed” that the Supreme Court “reached a different conclusion.”
Lederer admitted that under the Court’s ruling, only Congress could prevent Trump from appearing on the ballot.
