— Washington A state court judge in New Mexico determined on Thursday that the founder of “Cowboys for Trump” must be removed from his position as an Otero County commissioner due to his participation in the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Judge Francis Mathew of Santa Fe’s 1st Judicial District Court ordered Couy Griffin’s immediate removal from office and permanently barred him from pursuing or holding any federal or state position. Griffin is prohibited from public office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, according to Mathew’s opinion, since he “engaged in” the January 6 rebellion and became ineligible for federal or state elected offices the day he participated in the Capitol assault.
Section 3 of the obscure 14th Amendment states that “no person shall be a senator or representative in Congress” or “hold any office, civil or military” if, after taking an oath to support the Constitution, they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against it, or provided aid or comfort to its enemies.” The rule was initially intended to prohibit Confederates from taking office following the Civil War.
Griffin was found guilty in March of illegally entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds on January 6 and sentenced to 14 days in jail with credit for time served and one year of supervised release in June. In addition, he was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine and perform 60 hours of community service.
In a 49-page judgement, Matthew accused Griffin of seeking to “sanitize” his conduct on January 6 by claiming they were justified. The judge stated that Griffin’s “protestations and characterizations” of the events on January 6 are “not credible and amount to nothing more than an attempt to put lipstick on a pig.”
“The irony of Mr. Griffin’s argument that this court should not apply the law and consider the will of the people in District Two of Otero County who retained him as a county commissioner against a recall effort as he attempts to defend his participation in an insurrection by a mob whose goal, by his own admission, was to set aside the results of a free, fair, and lawful election by a majority of the people in the entire country (the will of the people) has no bound
The verdict on Tuesday was the result of a lawsuit filed in March by a group of New Mexico residents, who were represented by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Any private citizen of New Mexico may bring a lawsuit to remove an unlawfully-held public office holder, and they asserted Griffin is disqualified from federal and state office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment owing to his participation in the assault on the Capitol on January 6 and associated events.
Griffin and Cowboys for Trump played a “key role” in the “Stop the Steal” movement by attending demonstrations and promoting false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, according to Mathew’s judgment.
After analyzing the events of January 6 and Griffin’s activities, Mathew determined that the attack on the Capitol was an insurrection and that Griffin was responsible.
“Because state law compelled Mr. Griffin to swear an oath to support the Constitution as a county officer, and he did so, the court decides that he is disqualified under Section 3,” he wrote.
According to CREW, this is the first time in more than 150 years that a court has disqualified a public officer under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and the first time any court has determined that the events of January 6 constituted an insurrection.
The head of the organization, Noah Bookbinder, described the verdict as “a historic victory for accountability.”
“Protecting American democracy requires holding accountable those who break their Constitutional oaths,” he added in a statement. “This ruling clarifies that any present or former public officials who swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and then engaged in the January 6 uprising can and will be removed from office and barred from future government service for their acts.”
After the Civil War, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was enacted in 1868 to prevent former Confederate officers and officials from holding office again without authorization from Congress. The group Free Speech for People has spearheaded lawsuits against lawmakers in other states for their roles in the January 6 attack, but none have been successful. Despite the fact that the First Amendment has been rarely invoked in the last 150 years, Free Speech for People has spearheaded lawsuits against legislators in other states for their roles in the
A Georgia administrative law judge ruled in May that Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene may remain on the ballot in the state, despite an effort by a group of voters to prohibit her from standing for reelection under Section 3.
A federal district court judge in North Carolina prevented the state Board of Elections from considering a challenge to the candidacy of Republican representative Madison Cawthorn. Cawthorn’s principal loss led to the dismissal of the challenge.