Illinois Decided To Keep Trump On Ballot… Until One Rogue Judge Overruled Them

Torching any possibility of free and fair elections is a really weird way to come to the ‘rescue’ of an endangered democracy, doncha think?

To a thinking person, anyway. The power-at-any-price Democrats have a different grid through which they might evaluate such questions.

One of the left’s army of lawyers found themselves in front of a sympathetic judge and played the 14th Amendment card… which was written explicitly to block Democrat separatists in the Confederacy from secreting themselves into positions of governmental power to advance an agenda.

Trump never took up arms against the Government. None of his supporters did, either. He has never been charged (let alone convicted) of any crime relating in any way to ‘insurrection’. The election interference ones are longshots at best. And we’re supposed to imagine that a statute blocking Confederates from holding lesser positions in office applies in any way to Trump?

But here in 2024 crazy-land that’s exactly the question that went before a judge. And she bought it.

A judge in Cook County, Illinois, on Wednesday ruled that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, also known as the “insurrection clause,” bars former President Donald Trump from the 2024 Republican primary ballot.

The order overrules a January determination from the Illinois State Board of Elections that Trump could remain eligible.

Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter placed an immediate stay on her decision until March 1 “in anticipation of an appeal to the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, or the Illinois Supreme Court.”

A Trump spokesman responded in a statement, calling Porter’s ruling “unconstitutional” and adding, “We will quickly appeal.”

Free Speech for People, a watchdog group helping to represent the group of voters who brought the 14th Amendment challenge in Illinois, billed the decision as a “historic victory.” — ABC

Influence Watch had this to say about the group who brought the case against Trump:

Free Speech For People, though purportedly nonpartisan, is led by a group of activists involved in left-of-center organizing. John Bonifaz is the co-founder and president of Free Speech For People. Bonifaz previously founded and worked as the executive director of the National Voting Rights Institute (NVRI), another organization that seeks to limit campaign spending. 15 NVRI led an unsuccessful push to force Ohio to recount its 2004 presidential ballots to dispute the victory of President George W. Bush. 16

Ben Clements is the chairman of Free Speech For People. Clements is a private attorney who also worked as first chief legal counsel to former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D). Clements is involved in other left-of-center organizations as well, sitting as a board member for Stop Handgun Violence and as an advisory committee member of the Boston chapter of the American Constitution Society. 17

Free Speech For People’s senior political advisor Steve Cobble is an assistant fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-wing think tank. 18 Cobble is also a co-founder of Progressive Democrats of America, an organization that aims to support the Democratic Party and push an agenda focused on promoting environmentalism and expanding public healthcare. 19 20 Cobble has written for left-of-center publications including The Nation and The Progressive. 21 Early in his career, Cobble organized on behalf of several left-of-center political candidates, working as a delegate coordinator for Jesse Jackson’s left-wing presidential campaign in 1988. 22 Cobble has organized within the mainstream Democratic Party as well, working on the presidential campaigns of both George McGovern and Dennis Kucinich. 23

Since SCOTUS has already given an audience to questions about Insurrection and the ballot, this ruling will likely be considered in any of their deliberations.

A Cook County circuit judge should have the sole power to disqualify a candidate in a national race? Seems like a stretch. Let’s take a look at the kind of cases she’s been hearing.

A story published today has this to say about her time behind the bench.

Tracie Porter is an At-Large Cook County Circuit Court Judge whom the Illinois Supreme Court appointed on November 12, 2021.

Porter is currently stationed at the Traffic Division in downtown Chicago’s Richard J. Daley Center. There, she handles minor traffic infractions and Class A Misdemeanor cases. — WorldCinemaParadise

If accurate, the jump from traffic tickets to pulling a Presidential candidate off the ballot is one hell of a leap. What made her think it fell within the scope of her own authority? Or is that why she issued a stay on her own judgment pending a higher court’s reaction?

You just KNOW the left would be calling BS on it if their candidate was the one getting hit with the blunt end of this particular pool cue.

You know what Trump says every time they pull these stunts, right?

That’s good for a couple points higher in the polls, thank-you-very-much.

Psalms of War: Prayers That Literally Kick Ass is a collection, from the book of Psalms, regarding how David rolled in prayer. I bet you haven’t heard these read, prayed, or sung in church against our formidable enemies — and therein lies the Church’s problem. We’re not using the spiritual weapons God gave us to waylay the powers of darkness. It might be time to dust them off and offer ‘em up if you’re truly concerned about the state of Christ’s Church and of our nation.

Also included in this book, Psalms of War, are reproductions of the author’s original art from his Biblical Badass Series of oil paintings.

This is a great gift for the prayer warriors. Real. Raw. Relevant.