Jan. 6 Rioter Barred From Holding Office For Life Under Insurrection Clause After His Appeal Is Dism

[Ohio Joe]

Jan. 6 Rioter Barred From Holding Office For Life Under Insurrection Clause After His Appeal Is Dismissed

The New Mexico Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal from “Cowboys for Trump” founder Couy Griffin to overturn a decision that barred him from holding public office for life under the 14th Amendment’s Disqualification Clause.

Griffin was arrested and convicted for entering restricted areas at the Capitol on Jan, 6, 2021. At the time, he was serving as a commissioner of Otero County, New Mexico, where he was elected in 2018. But residents began pushing to have him removed from office in 2021 for a number of reasons, including allegedly using his position to promote Cowboys for Trump.

--snip--

“This is an affirmation that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment can and should be enforced against all the January 6th insurrectionists who took an oath to defend the Constitution, whether they are current or former officeholders,” CREW senior vice president Donald Sherman said in a statement, “Today is an important day for our democracy.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jan-6-rioter-barred-from-holding-office-for-life-under-insurrection-clause-after-his-appeal-is-dismissed/ar-AA14bsGT?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=9f930cdea4844c389190777258492039

The key here is getting the conviction for participation in 1/6 but this is an excellent precedent.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

1. Why not apply that

Section 3 of the 4th amendment to the orange slug.

[Ohio Joe]

2. I know CREW said they were going to try...

https://www.salon.com/2022/11/04/watchdog-group-crew-wants-to-disqualify-under-14th-amendment-if-he-runs-for-again_partner/

And I know it was tried on several others:

Advocacy groups have mounted nine challenges so far. The Arizona Supreme Court has definitively dismissed three of them—those lodged against Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Andy Biggs and state Rep.Mark Finchem. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger found a fourth challenged official, Greene, qualified to run for office after an evidentiary hearing, affirming the ruling of an administrative law judge. (The challengers have appealed Raffensperger’s decision in the state courts, while Greene is appealing the federal court ruling refusing to bar the challenge before Raffensperger’s office.) The challenge to a fifth, Cawthorn, will likely become moot after his primary loss is certified.

On June 3, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin dismissed three more challenges. Those had been brought in a single federal suit against Sen. Ron Johnson, Rep. Tom Tiffany, and Rep. Scott L. Fitzgerald. The judge cited lack of standing and other procedural deficiencies in her order. That leaves one live challenge remaining: Voters backed by the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have brought a New Mexico state court action to oust Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, who was convicted in March of a misdemeanor for his involvement in the Capitol riot. I should also mention a short-lived, tenth challenge: In February, a Democratic primary candidate filed a one-sentence Section 3 challenge to Rep. Jim Banks, seeking to bar him from the Republican primary ballot for his Indiana district. The Indiana Election Commission denied the petition orally about a week later and the challenger did not appeal.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/after-cawthorn-ruling-can-trump-be-saved-section-3-14th-amendment

I suspect the main problem is that none of these have been convicted in anything related to 1/ yet. What I think this rules sets down is that 1/6 was an insurrection legally now and also that anyone convicted of crimes related will now be excluded from office ever again. At least... Thats what I'm getting from everything I've read.

[whathehell]

3. My thought exactly...

[onenote]

5. If and when Trump is convicted of something, this might be a useful precedent.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Important precedent. Hopefully the USSC doesn't overturn it...nt

[CaptainTruth]

6. Awesome, this is exactly the precedent we need!

[Omaha Steve]

7. I believe DUer duhneece has video of Griffin trying to stop her from voting last week

I hope she gets a chance to post it.

[Ohio Joe]

9. WTF?

Yeah... If she has that, it needs to be spread far and wide.

[mountain grammy]

8. Bravo NM!!

Hopefully SCOTUS doesn't get involved.

[Hortensis]

10. Unfortunately, the decision seems to be based on Griffin's failure

to file a document within the proper timeframe.

His own claim was that there was insufficient evidence for his conviction for "insurrection against the constitution," which had already been upheld on lower-court appeal -- but that wasn't addressed.

Griffin's conviction was for a federal misdemeanor trespassing charge related to the insurrection. He claims he didn't participate in the violence and didn't know he was trespassing. The NM judge who applied the 14th said he aided the insurrection (and called it that) even though he did not personally engage in violence.

I don't think this is the end of this. Attempts to use the 14th against Madison Cawthorne and MT Greene both failed.