UPDATE (3/4/2024): The Supreme Court on March 4 unanimously restored Donald Trump to 2024 presidential primary ballots, rejecting state attempts to ban the Republican former president over the Capitol riot. The story continues as originally published below:
On Feb. 28, 2024, Judge Tracie Porter ordered that former President Donald Trump be taken off the Illinois state primary ballot, a decision that Trump appealed the following day. Trump is in legal battles over his status on the primary ballot in several states after judges ruled he can’t be on the ballot because of the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause.
Multiple viral posts on X claim that Porter is a traffic court judge, implying Porter lacks the credentials or authority to make such a decision.
THE QUESTION
Is the person who ruled to remove former President Trump from the Illinois primary ballot a traffic court judge?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, the person who ruled to remove former President Trump from the Illinois primary ballot is not a traffic court judge.
WHAT WE FOUND
Judge Tracie Porter was at one time a traffic judge. However, she currently presides in the Cook County Circuit Court’s county division.
Porter’s page on the website for the State of Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County currently says she is a circuit judge in the court’s county division.
Previously, the page said Porter was a circuit judge in the court’s traffic division.
Porter was sworn into office on Nov. 12, 2021, according to the Cook County Democratic Party. At that point, she presided over minor traffic violations and Class A Misdemeanor matters in the traffic division at the Richard J. Daley Center in downtown Chicago.
On April 25, 2022, the Cook County Democratic Party announced Porter was unanimously appointed as an At-Large Cook County Circuit Court Judge (Countywide) by the Illinois Supreme Court. One of the viral posts includes a screenshot of this announcement but highlights Porter’s previous role.
She ran for reelection and won in November 2022, Ballotpedia says. Her current term ends in December 2028.
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