Group challenging Trump’s ballot access in Cook County court hopes for
quick decision
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[February 03, 2024]
By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD – A national voting rights organization is asking a Cook
County judge to overturn a ruling from the Illinois State Board of
Elections and block former President Donald Trump from being listed on
the March 19 Republican primary ballot.
Lawyers for the group Free Speech for People filed an appeal of the
election board’s decision immediately after it was announced Wednesday.
They are also asking the court to decide the matter in just a few days,
before local election officials begin sending out vote-by-mail ballots
on Thursday, Feb. 8.
“We think the matter is urgent, both because of the overseas ballots
being sent out on Feb. 8, at the earliest, and because of the nature of
what is at stake here,” the group’s president, John Bonifaz, said in an
interview Friday. “There should not be a candidate who was so clearly
disqualified under our Constitution appearing on the ballot for
president in Illinois or any other state.”
The legal challenge ran into a minor roadblock Friday when lawyers for
the Trump campaign filed a motion to assign the case to a different
judge. The case had been assigned to Judge Mary Trew, but in response to
the campaign’s motion, the court quickly reassigned it to a different
judge, Tracie Porter.
The Trump campaign gave no reason for its request. Illinois law allows
each party in a civil action to make one request for substitution of a
judge without cause.
“This is a transparent attempt to delay resolution of this matter,”
Caryn Lederer, lead counsel for the objectors, said in an interview
Friday.
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Free Speech for People was founded in 2010 in response to the U.S.
Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election
Commission, which held corporations and other outside groups could spend
unlimited funds on electioneering. The group describes itself as a
nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works for free and fair
elections.
Following Jan. 6, 2021, when thousands of protesters stormed the U.S.
Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the results of
the 2020 election, Free Speech for People began launching legal
campaigns in hopes of preventing public officials who supported the
rioters from running for reelection in 2022.
In June 2021, the group sent letters to chief election officials in all
50 states and Washington, D.C. They contended that if Trump were ever to
run for president again, he would be barred by Section 3 of the 14th
Amendment, which prohibits former public officials who take part in an
insurrection or rebellion against the United States from holding public
office again.
The group also launched unsuccessful attempts to prevent members of
Congress who expressed support for the Jan. 6 rioters from running for
reelection in 2022. Those included Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor
Greene, of Georgia, as well as Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs, of Arizona.
In Illinois, the group is supporting five individuals who signed on to
the objection that was rejected by the State Board of Elections and
which is now being reviewed by the Cook County Circuit Court.
The elections board rejected the challenge on the grounds that it did
not have statutory authority to decide questions of constitutional law.
It also said there was no evidence that Trump knowingly made a false
statement when he attested on his candidate filing forms that he was
qualified for the office of president. |