Donald Trump, the former president, is fighting to remain on the ballot in several states. The Republican has been charged with breaking the Fourteenth Amendment by speaking on the day of the capital attack on January 6, 2021. He just prevailed in a fight to remain on the ballot.
On January 30, the Illinois electoral board denied a request to remove Trump from the state’s primary ballot. The former president was found to have violated the Constitution by giving a speech at the “Stop the Steal” Rally and instructing his followers to march peacefully to the Capitol Building that day. This finding led to the unanimous ruling. The hearing officer was a retired Republican judge. An insurrection clause in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment forbids officeholders from holding public office again if they participated in an insurrection.
The eight-member Illinois election board wasn’t buying it. The board, which consists of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, dismissed the argument that Trump broke the Constitution. The members of the election board declared that they lacked the power to remove the former president from the ballot, thus he would stay on it.
Republican board member Catherine McCrory told the Associated Press that she had “no doubt” that former president Trump had “manipulated, instigated, aided and abetted an insurrection,” but that the board lacked the authority to remove him.
On his social media platform TRUTH Social, Trump announced his triumph and said it was an 8-0 vote in his favor.
The US Supreme Court has already agreed to take the issue on. The justices have scheduled arguments for the second week of February in the case involving Colorado’s decision to declare Trump ineligible to run for president. It’s also important to remember that when Trump was impeached a second time, the Senate decided that he was not responsible for instigating the rebellion.
