A Cook County judge rejected a request from legal counsel for former President Donald Trump to pause a challenge to a ruling that left him on the Illinois ballot while the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on the matter.
Judge Tracie Porter rejected Trump’s lawyers’ request on Wednesday, which was to halt legal proceedings until the nation’s top court rules on an appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that disqualified the former president from the ballot under the 14th Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court began hearing arguments on the case on Thursday.
The Illinois Board of Elections unanimously decided to keep Trump on the Land of Lincoln’s ballot for the 2024 election on Jan. 30. Porter previously rejected a motion to expedite court proceedings for those objecting to the elections board’s ruling and who want to see Trump removed on Wednesday, as well.
Instead, she set a date to hear arguments for the objection to the board’s decision on Feb. 16.
The Illinois elections board said past Illinois Supreme Court decisions prevented them from determining whether Trump is ineligible to run for president under a section of the 14th Amendment that prohibits those who engaged in insurrection from holding office. In a bipartisan 8-0 vote, the board rejected a challenge that Trump “knowingly” signed a certification of candidacy stating he was qualified to be president.
Five voters, backed by the Free Speech for People group, are appealing the board’s decision. They allege that the board misinterpreted state Supreme Court decisions and created a new legal standard that someone can appear on the ballot if they signed a statement of candidacy but did so not “knowing” they were unqualified to be a candidate.
Trump attorney Adam Merrill requested a stay of the voters’ challenge, telling Porter that “every single issue has been briefed and is going to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.”
“It simply makes no sense for this court to be the only court in the country to continue proceedings here,” Merrill said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “The stay is really the only decision that makes sense.”
Merrill also argued against an expedited hearing for the challenge, citing Illinois’s process of allocating delegates at the Republican National Convention. The state sends 64 delegates to the convention: 13 at-large and three from each of the 17 congressional districts. If Trump were disqualified, he would be ineligible for the 13 at-large delegates, who go to the primary winner, but Merrill said voters could select the 51 delegates pledged to his nomination, who are chosen directly by voters.
Caryn Lederer, an attorney representing the five voters challenging the board’s decision, said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling “cannot resolve Illinois state law issues.”
“Regardless of the Supreme Court decision of Section 3, without a ruling from this court, Donald Trump will remain on the Illinois ballot because the electoral board found that he did not knowingly lie when he said he was qualified for office,” Lederer said. “Even if the U.S. Supreme Court disqualifies candidate Trump from the presidency, he will remain on the Illinois ballot absent (state) court intervention.”
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Lederer also defended the request to expedite the hearing, saying, “It is better for the state of Illinois for this case to be ready for a resolution up before the Illinois Supreme Court at the soonest possible moment.
“Otherwise, it puts voters at significant risk of casting votes for a disqualified candidate, votes that will need to be disregarded, disenfranchising Illinois voters,” Lederer continued.
