Supreme Court rejects appeal by former New Mexico county commissioner banned for Jan. 6 insurrection
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a former New Mexico county commissioner who was kicked out of office over his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Former Otero County commissioner Couy Griffin, a cowboy pastor who rode to national political fame by embracing then-President Donald Trump with a series of horseback caravans, is the only elected official thus far to be banned from office in connection with the Capitol attack, which disrupted Congress as it was trying to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory over Trump.
At a 2022 trial in state district court, Griffin received the first disqualification from office in over a century under a provision of the 14th Amendment written to prevent former Confederates from serving in government after the Civil War.
Though the Supreme Court ruled this month that states don’t have the ability to bar Trump or other candidates for federal offices from the ballot, the justices said different rules apply to state and local candidates.
The problem is that the amendment doesn’t say “But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, enact such disability.”, it says “…remove such disability”. It doesn’t make plain English sense that congress should have to take a positive action to make this happen and also remove it.
Scary how simple that concept is, and how the supreme court completely ignored it.
5/9 of the Court ignored it
No, 9/9 of the court ignored it. Otherwise, the 4/9 would've written a dissent, not a concurrence. It's a disgrace.
They're all in cahoots, fellas.