SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CN) — Five Illinois voters filed an official objection to Donald Trump's presidential candidacy with the State Board of Elections on Thursday, the first day the board accepted such filings for the state's March 2024 primary election.
Using similar logic to challenges in other states, the voters say that Trump is disqualified for the presidency under the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment, because of his involvement with his supporters' attempt to occupy the national Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The clause states that no former U.S. official can "hold any office, civil or military," if they have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the country.
"Candidate's nomination papers are not valid because when he swore in his statement of candidacy that he is 'qualified' for the office of the presidency as required by [Illinois state law], he did so falsely," the voters wrote in their objection filing. "Trump cannot satisfy the eligibility for the office of the president of the United States established in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."
The nonprofit voting rights advocacy group Free Speech For People — whose attorneys helped draft the objection, alongside attorneys from the law firms Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, and the Mullen Law Firm — joined the voters.
"We've been preparing for this since 2021," Ron Fein, Free Speech For People's legal director, said in a phone interview.
Though Trump faces 14th Amendment challenges to his candidacy in multiple states, so far only two, Colorado and Maine, have officially booted Trump from their primary ballots. Trump has appealed both decisions; in Maine, where Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows made the determination to disqualify him from the primary, he has taken the issue to the Maine Superior Court. And in Colorado, where the state Supreme Court took him off the ballot, the former president has appealed the decision to the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court.
In his Supreme Court appeal, Trump denied he played any part in an insurrection, claimed the Colorado Supreme Court misinterpreted the 14th Amendment as it applies to him, and argued the court had overstepped its authority in barring him from the primary.
Trump further argued that, if allowed to stand, the Colorado ruling "will mark the first time in the history of the United States that the judiciary has prevented voters from casting ballots for the leading major-party presidential candidate."
In other states, challenges to Trump's candidacy are pending or have been rebuffed. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber decided to keep Trump on the primary ballot last week, citing legal concerns and a desire to preserve public trust in the legitimacy of elections.
Michigan's Supreme Court also effectively ruled last week to keep Trump on the 2024 primary ballot, when it declined to hear a challenge to a state appellate court's December ruling which found that barring Trump from the primary would be a premature step.
"As explained, before Trump’s potential disqualification from holding the office of President could become a relevant concern, he would minimally need to prevail in the primary process," the Michigan appellate judges wrote. "That process has yet to begin, and whether Trump prevails in the primary process or becomes the Republican nominee for president are purely hypothetical questions at present."
Free Speech For People had a hand in the Michigan attempt to keep Trump out of the primary, and despite the setback there, Fein expressed optimism for the case in Illinois. He also noted the Michigan Supreme Court's decision not to hear the appellate challenge still left the door open for new objections to Trump's candidacy should he win the state's Republican primary.
"What the Michigan Supreme Court ruled was that, under state procedural law, they couldn't remove him from the primary," Fein said. "The Michigan Supreme Court did not rule on whether Trump violated the 14th Amendment."
Still, Fein said he expected Trump to contest the Illinois voters' objection "vigorously," as the former president has done in Colorado and Maine. He maintained Free Speech For People's view that Trump violated the insurrection clause and his oath of office in encouraging the events of Jan. 6, and said the group was committed to preventing the candidacy of someone who had violated the Constitution.
"We're not pursuing a political project, we're enforcing the Constitution," Fein said.
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