Why our 14th Amendment lawsuit against a Trump fanatic sets a key American precedent
Most Americans have never heard of Couy Griffin. Most Americans are also probably not familiar with Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, also known as the disqualification clause, as it hasn’t received a lot of attention since the end of the Civil War, when it was invoked to keep public officeholders who had joined the Confederacy from holding office again.
But a decision last week by a state court judge in Santa Fe, New Mexico, ruled that Griffin, a county commissioner in Otero County, New Mexico, and founder of the group Cowboys for Trump, was constitutionally disqualified from office after he participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Griffin may not be a nationally prominent figure (or at least, he wasn’t until recently), but this case nonetheless has profound significance for all Americans.
Our organization, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), along with co-counsel, represented three New Mexico residents who sued to remove Griffin from office under a New Mexico law that allows any resident to go to court to challenge the qualifications of a state official. We argued, and the judge agreed, that Griffin was disqualified from office because his participation in the Jan. 6 riot ran afoul of the 14th Amendment. There are many officials who could be challenged based on the disqualification clause — but we concluded that the facts of Griffin’s case and the law in New Mexico made this a good place to start. According to the facts presented at trial and affirmed in the judge’s decision, former commissioner Griffin promoted violent rhetoric before, during and after the 2020 presidential election, and traveled to the Capitol for the Jan. 6 election certification, video taping his threats and allegiance to the insurrection along the way.
This week’s court decision is the first case in which any judge, at any level, has ruled that the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was an insurrection as defined by the Constitution. It reaffirms our basic American commitment to a democratic system with its finding that those who seek to undermine the rule of law and the peaceful transition of power have no place in government.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/cowboys-trump-fanatic-lawsuit-wins-sets-big-precedent-rcna46946
= new reply since forum marked as read
