Trump Ballot Challenge Filed With Illinois State Board Of Elections

CHICAGO — Five Illinois residents have filed an objection to former President Donald Trump's nominating petitions with state election officials, adding Illinois to the list of states where Trump's eligibility for the 2024 presidential ballot is being contested.

The challenge cites Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bars anyone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding state or federal office.

So far, the clause has been used to find Trump ineligible to run for reelection by the Colorado Supreme Court and Maine's secretary of state. Courts in Michigan have rejected a similar attempt.

The former president this week appealed the Maine and Colorado rulings to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to play a significant role in determining whether the name of the 77-year-old Palm Beach, Florida, resident will appear on the ballot this year.

Historically designed to prevent former Confederates from returning to power after the Civil War, Section 3 is now being applied to Trump in the context of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, for which he is currently awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to do so and conspiracy against rights.

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In Illinois, objectors Steven Anderson, Charles Holley, Jack Hickman, Ralph Cintron and Darryl Baker are represented by two Chicago law firms and the Massachusetts-based liberal nonprofit Free Speech for People.

Their objection was lodged with the Illinois State Board of Elections immediately after the former president's campaign submitted paperwork to appear on the March primary on Thursday, the first day nominating petitions can be filed.

“By statute, all candidate objections in Illinois begin with the election authority, in this case the State Board of Elections," said Ed Mullen, one of the Chicago attorneys who helped prepare the petition.

"The board has the expertise and procedures to decide these issues in an expedited manner," Mullen told Patch. "After the board’s decision, the case is likely to proceed quickly through the courts to a final decision from the Illinois Supreme Court (and possibly the US Supreme Court) before the March 19 primary.”

According to the 87-page objectors' petition, the former president, starting before Jan. 6, 2021, and continuing until today, "gave aid and comfort to enemies of the Constitution by, among other things: encouraging and counseling the insurrectionists; deliberately failing to exercise his authority and responsibility as President to quell the insurrection; praising the insurrectionists, including calling them 'very special,' 'good persons,' and 'patriots'; and promising or suggesting that he would pardon many of the insurrectionists if reelected to the presidency."

The Illinois State Board of Elections is tasked with reviewing nominating petitions to make sure they comply with state election laws rather than adjudicating constitutional disputes such as the one raised in the Trump eligibility challenge, which argues that the petitions are invalid under state law because the former president falsely swore that he was "qualified" for the office.

A spokesperson for the board confirmed the objection had been filed but said it had not yet been assigned a hearing officer.

The petition documents numerous instances where judges and other government officials have declared the Jan. 6 events to be an "insurrection," including Trump's own attorney during his second impeachment trial.

The objectors in Illinois include residents of Chicago, Lindenhurst, Fairview Heights and Colfax, according to WBEZ, which first reported the objection filing. A spokesperson for Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Trump was unfit for office, but said judges "need to decide on the merits of these arguments."

Law professors William Baude, of the University of Chicago, and Michael Paulsen, of the University of St. Thomas, last year wrote a paper for the University of Pennsylvania Law Review arguing that Trump and many others could be disqualified from public office, and it should be enforced by every official responsible for determining if candidates are qualified for the ballot.

"The public record to date shows many others who are or may be connected to either the insurrection of January 6 or to a possible broader rebellion. These include government lawyers, executive branch officials, state officeholders, and even members of Congress," Baude and Paulsen said.

"It is not for us to definitively say who all these may be — that," they argued, "is ultimately the responsibility and judgment of all those whose public duties call upon them to apply the Constitution’s provisions concerning officeholder qualifications."

Most former Confederates were granted amnesty by Congress in 1872. From then until the Jan. 6 riot, legal scholars believe the only time it was used was to block Milwaukee socialist Victor Berger, the Austrian-born founder of the Socialist Party of America and an opponent of World War I, from the seat in Congress he was twice elected to.

Free Speech for People previously filed similar 14th Amendment challenges against Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and former North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn. A judge found insufficient factual evidence that Greene had engaged in an insurrection and Cawthorn lost his primary, so neither were disqualified.

However, Couy Griffin, a former county commissioner in Otero County, New Mexico, and the founder of a group called "Cowboys for Trump," was removed from office last September after a judge found him disqualified under the 14th Amendment as a result of a misdemeanor trespassing conviction stemming from his involvement in the events of Jan. 6.