Illinois judge orders Donald Trump removed from state's primary ballot

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- An Illinois judge on Wednesday ordered Donald Trump be removed from the state's March 19 primary ballot but placed a hold on her order.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Tracie Porter ordered the Illinois Board of Elections to remove Trump from the primary ballot and to suppress any votes he might receive during the primary, CNN reported.

Porter cited the insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as her reasoning for removing Trump from the state's ballot, but she said she expects the former president to appeal her decision, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Trump can appeal the decision to the Illinois appellate court but might not need to after the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 8 heard arguments for and against disqualifying the former president from eligibility to run for the nation's highest office in Colorado due to the Jan. 6, 2021, protest and riot at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

If the Supreme Court rules in Trump's favor, Porter's order would be moot.

The Supreme Court has until Tuesday to approve or deny Trump's eligibility to run for office if he were to be eligible for inclusion on Colorado's primary ballot. Colorado's primaries are scheduled Tuesday, while Illinois' primaries are two weeks later on March 19.

The Illinois Board of Elections in January unanimously voted to keep Trump on the state's ballot after the board's general counsel advised it does not have the jurisdiction to decide whether he should be removed.

Porter said the state's elections board erred in refusing to remove Trump from the state's ballot, which would place Illinois with Colorado and Maine in having officials declare him ineligible for inclusion on their respective ballots.

Porter won re-election to the Cook County Circuit Court on Nov. 8, 2022, and is a member of the Democratic Party, according to Ballotpedia.

A group calling itself Free Speech For People challenged Trump's eligibility to run for office in Illinois after failing to get him removed from ballots in Michigan, Minnesota and Oregon.

Porter presided over a hearing in the matter last month and issued her ruling on Wednesday. Attorney's for the former president asked Porter to wait for the Supreme Court to render its decision before ruling on the case.