Illinois hearings official, former Republican Party judge, says Trump was involved in an insurrection
A former Republican judge appointed to hear arguments on whether to disqualify former President Donald J. Trump from the Illinois primary said Sunday that he believed Trump engaged in an insurrection by trying to stay in office after the 2020 elections.
But the former judge, Clark Erickson, whose nonbinding opinion will be considered by the State Board of Elections on Tuesday, added that he believed the board did not have the authority to disqualify Mr. Trump on those grounds and that the question had to be left instead. to the courts.
The mixed decision was at least a symbolic setback for the former president, who faced official challenges to his candidacy in 35 states and was ineligible for primaries in Colorado and Maine. Mr. Trump, the leading Republican candidate for president, is still likely to appear in primaries in both states as the U.S. Supreme Court considers an appeal of the Colorado ruling.
In Illinois, at least five of the eight members of the Board of Elections would have to vote Tuesday to remove Mr. Trump so he can be removed from the ballot. The appointed board consists of four Democrats and four Republicans. Their decision can be appealed to the court before the March 19 primary election.
The challenge in Illinois, like those in other states, is based on a clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which disqualifies public officials “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.
During a hearing on Friday in downtown Chicago, attorneys for residents objecting to Trump's candidacy accused the former president of insurrection and played footage of the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Lawyers for Trump denied the accusation, arguing that the constitutional clause in question did not apply to the presidency in any case.
Trump's campaign has described the multi-state effort to disqualify him as partisan and anti-democratic. A campaign spokesman and a lawyer for Mr. Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
In his written opinion, Mr. Erickson recommended that the board dismiss the appeal against Mr. Trump, ruling that Illinois Supreme Court precedent prevented the Board of Elections from engaging in the “significant and sophisticated constitutional analysis” necessary was to reach a decision. But if the board disagreed with him on the issue of jurisdiction, Mr. Erickson said he believed they should disqualify Mr. Trump from the primary ballot.
It is also expected that the board's general counsel will issue a formal recommendation prior to the hearing. A copy of Mr. Erickson's opinion was published by lawyers for residents objecting to Mr. Trump. The authenticity of the document was confirmed by Bernadette Matthews, the executive director of the Board of Elections.
Mr. Erickson, who discussed the findings of the Colorado Supreme Court and the U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the Capitol riot, detailed the 14th Amendment case against Mr. Trump.
“The evidence shows that President Trump understood the divisive political climate in the United States,” Mr. Erickson wrote, adding that he “exploited that climate for his own political gain by falsely and publicly claiming that the election had been stolen from him , even though A single piece of evidence showed that his claim was demonstrably false.”
Mr. Erickson said the former president “understood the context of the events of January 6, 2021, because he created the climate” and that “he engaged in an elaborate scheme to provide lists of fraudulent voters to Vice President Pence with the express purpose of disrupting the peaceful transfer of power after elections.”
During the hearing last week, Mr. Trump's lawyers emphasized that their client posted messages on social media calling for peace after the riot began. Mr. Erickson said he found these messages unconvincing and believed they were “the product of an attempt to give himself plausible deniability.”
“Maybe he realized how far he had gone and that the attempt to steal the election had failed because Vice President Pence had refused to take the bag of fraudulent voters,” Mr. Erickson added.
Mr. Erickson, a retired Republican state judge from Kankakee County, oversaw the hearing Friday in a nondescript conference room in a government office. There were about twenty people in the room, including many lawyers and journalists.
In a interview years ago with The Daily Journala newspaper in Kankakee, a small city 60 miles south of Chicago, Mr. Erickson said he was trying to ensure a nonpartisan approach to the bank.
“We are a political society, and the way we choose judges in the state system is through political elections,” he told the newspaper, adding that “that's a bit tricky because politics clearly can't have anything to do with our work to have. after we are elected.”
Ron Fein, the legal director of Free Speech for People, who helped raise the objections in Illinois and several other states, called Mr. Erickson's views on Mr. Trump's conduct “very significant.”
“We expect that the Administration and ultimately the Illinois courts will agree with Judge Erickson's thoughtful analysis on why Trump is disqualified from office, but correct him – with the utmost respect – on why Illinois law allows this ruling.” , Mr Fein said in a statement.
Illinois, a Democratic stronghold, is not expected to be competitive in the November general election. But it is a state rich in delegates, where the primaries could help Trump clinch the Republican nomination.
Many expect the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately decide the question of Mr. Trump's eligibility. Oral arguments in the Colorado appeal are scheduled for February 8.
Meanwhile, with primary season underway and Trump holding a large lead on the Republican side, issues surrounding the former president's eligibility remain unresolved in more than fifteen states.