Trump's Ballot Eligibility Under Scrutiny Amid Insurrection Claims

State and federal courts to decide on former President's disqualification under the 14th Amendment's 'insurrection act'.

A state elections hearing officer in Illinois agreed that former President Donald Trump engaged in insurrection during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, but said it's up to the courts, not the State Board of Elections, to decide whether to remove him from the primary ballot.
The objection to having Trump on the ballot was filed by five Illinois voters and backed by Free Speech for People, a group that has been behind efforts to have Trump removed from ballots across the nation under provisions of the 'insurrection act' of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments on Feb. 8 in an appeal of a 4-3 ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court in December that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of the presidency and blocking his name on the state’s primary ballot.
A former conservative federal appellate judge, J. Michael Luttig, is urging the Supreme Court to keep Donald Trump off the ballot, arguing the ex-president’s effort to cling to power after his 2020 election loss was 'broader' than South Carolina’s secession from the US that triggered the Civil War.
Illinois is among 10 states where objections to Trump’s qualifications are pending. The Illinois objection filed with the State Board of Elections had largely been viewed as a vehicle to move the issue into the Illinois courts.