A JUDGE IN the US state of Illinois has ordered that former president Donald Trump be taken off the state’s Republican primary ballot over his role in the riot at the Capitol building in Washington on 6 January 2021.
Illinois is the third state to bar Trump from running in the contest for the Republican nomination for a run at the presidency, after Colorado and Maine did likewise, but the final decision will likely be made by the US Supreme Court.
The three states have relied on a provision in the US Constitution that prohibits people from running for office if they have taken part in an insurrection.
Trump blasted the Illinois decision as politically motivated and unjust.
“Democrat front groups continue to attempt to interfere in the election and deny President Trump his rightful place on the ballot,” Trump’s campaign said, promising to appeal the decision.
Anticipating pushback, the judge in Illinois put her decision on pause until Friday to allow for an appeal.
“In the meantime, President Trump remains on the Illinois ballot, is dominating the polls, and will Make America Great Again!” Trump’s campaign said.
Colorado and more than a dozen other states are to hold their presidential nominating contests on 5 March – also known as “Super Tuesday” – and the Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling before then.
The decision by Illinois Judge Tracie Porter, a Democrat, comes as similar anti-Trump ballot measures have cropped up in several states, including a Colorado ruling that is now before the US Supreme Court.
The question before the nine US justices is whether Trump, the presumed Republican presidential candidate, is ineligible to appear on the Republican presidential primary ballot in Colorado because he engaged in an insurrection, by inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol building on 6 January 2021.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court signaled it was skeptical of the Colorado ruling.
With reporting from AFP.
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