Michelle ThompsonA retired judge, Clark Erickson, who is a Republican, has recommended that former President Donald Trump, despite his involvement in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol, should still be allowed to stay on the ballot in Illinois. This recommendation comes ahead of a vote by the Illinois State Board of Elections on Tuesday.
Erickson arrived at this recommendation following an evidentiary hearing on Friday, during which lawyers from both sides debated whether Trump should be disqualified from holding office under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.” In his written recommendation, Erickson asserted that the board lacks the authority to evaluate candidates based on federal constitutional matters. Consequently, he advised the board to dismiss the case against Trump.
However, Erickson also noted that if the board believes it has the statutory power to assess Trump’s eligibility under the 14th Amendment, then it should remove him from the ballot because of his involvement in the insurrection on January 6, 2021.
The Illinois State Board of Elections comprises four Democrats and four Republicans, and their decision can potentially be appealed in Illinois state courts. Erickson suggested that certain critical issues related to this matter might be better addressed in the courts rather than by the election board.
Erickson’s assessment of the events of January 6 concluded that Trump had orchestrated a plan to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power and later tried to distance himself by making halfhearted calls for peace. While Trump may not have intended for violence to erupt on January 6, 2021, he acknowledged receiving reports of likely violence and knowing about violence at the Capitol.
Erickson criticized Trump for his public comments during the attack, including tweets encouraging his supporters to remain peaceful without explicitly instructing them to leave the US Capitol. He saw these tweets as an attempt to create plausible deniability and concluded that Trump’s inexplicable tweet lashing out at Vice President Pence while presiding over the joint session of Congress was compelling evidence of his support for the insurrection.
This challenge against Trump in Illinois was brought forth by several voters who argued that he should be removed from the 2024 presidential ballot due to his role in the January 6 insurrection. Similar lawsuits in other states, such as Michigan and Minnesota, have been dismissed on procedural grounds, while decisions in Colorado and Maine were pending Trump’s appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Emily Martinez
