I suppose this should have been predictable given the current political climate around the country, but it's still disappointing. A group of five Democratic voters in Illinois had previously brought a lawsuit seeking to bar Donald Trump from the ballot in their state claiming that he had fomented an insurrection on January 6, 2001. The state election board unanimously rejected the petition with little comment on the case's merits. But now, a Cook County Circuit Court judge has overridden the election board and ordered that Trump's name be removed. She placed a stay on her own order until Friday to allow Trump to file an appeal. The matter is already before the Supreme Court, so this may all be for naught, but it's yet another example of Democratic lawfare being waged against the former president. (Associated Press)

A Cook County judge ruled the Illinois State Board of Elections must take former President Donald Trump’s name off the state’s March 19 primary ballot Wednesday. But she placed her order on hold until Friday to allow an appeal.

Judge Tracie Porter issued her decision after a group of voters trying to remove Trump’s name from the primary ballot over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol sued to counter the election board’s unanimous rejection of its effort. The five voters argued Trump is ineligible to hold office because he encouraged and did little to stop the Capitol riot.

The case is one of dozens of lawsuits filed to remove Trump from the ballot, arguing he is ineligible due to a rarely used clause in the 14th Amendment prohibiting those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month signaled that it is likely to reject this strategy when it heard an appeal of a Colorado ruling removing Trump from the ballot there.

The order was issued by Judge Tracie Porter. To understand what's going on here, we should probably know a bit more about Porter's background. A former law professor at several universities, Porter was appointed to the Cook County Circuit Court by the state supreme court in 2021 to replace the previous judge who had been elevated to the 1st District Appellate Court. She later ran for election as a Democrat for her own term on the Circuit Court and won. She is a member of numerous professional associations including the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago. It would not be unreasonable to assume that Judge Porter isn't exactly a MAGA cheerleader of Donald Trump.

In issuing her ruling, Porter declared that the election board's unanimous rejection of the request to remove Trump from the ballot had been " clearly erroneous.” The board is comprised of four Democrats and four Republicans. They concluded that they did not have the authority to determine whether Donald Trump "violated the Constitution" on January 6. Apparently, one Circuit Court judge in Cook County believes that she does have that authority.

Keep in mind that all of this is happening just as the Supreme Court is poised to decide whether Trump has immunity from prosecution over the January 6 riots or anything else. All of the justices seemed skeptical of the idea when they initially heard the case. They already ruled that Trump could not be removed from the Colorado ballot while they considered the case. 

The state Supreme Court ruled Mr. Trump engaged in an insurrection with his behavior surrounding the 2020 election and ruled he is disqualified from serving as president under the Constitution, so he cannot appear on the Colorado ballot.

The secretary of state then moved to delete him from the ballot, but the Supreme Court stepped in and forced officials to leave his name on the list while the justices pondered the case.

“His name will appear on the 2024 Presidential Primary ballot as a result,” the secretary of state tells voters on its website.

The justices seemed equally skeptical of the idea of removing Trump from the ballot whether he is determined to have some level of immunity or not. Knowing that the ruling is pending and that a finding in Trump's favor would immediately wipe out her own finding, why would Judge Porter rush into the breach to rule that he should be removed? Is she just trying to garner some headlines and position herself for bigger and better things in the Illinois Democratic Party? She did go so far as to say that her order would be put on hold if the Supreme Court’s ruling is ultimately “inconsistent” with hers, so that's at least something.

Trump's attorneys have already said that they will appeal the ruling immediately. But we're going to need an answer fairly soon because the Illinois primary is less than three weeks away on March 19. The state must be allowed time to have the ballots ready to go. This clown show is simply becoming tedious, but I don't expect the Democrats to give up this quest. They will stoop to any level necessary because they are terrified of the possibility that Donald Trump could return to the White House.