Update to Sounds Like A Plan to Deal With the 147 Sedition Party Insurrectionists (excerpt):
A group of North Carolina voters took dramatic legal action against Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s (R-N.C.) reelection bid on Monday, arguing that the Constitution prohibits insurrectionist lawmakers from holding office.
The nonprofit Free Speech For People filed a challenge with the North Carolina State Board of Elections on behalf of 11 North Carolina voters, stating that Cawthorn has violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Section 3 says that no person may hold political office “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress … shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” The section was initially aimed at lawmakers who had plotted or battled against the U.S. government during the Civil War.
The challenge says Cawthorn urged his supporters to “threaten” and “intimidate” members of Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. It also notes that Cawthorn and his staff were “in close contact” with organizers of the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the storming of the U.S. Capitol, and that Cawthorn himself spoke at that rally that day.
Efforts to halt the certification of the 2020 presidential election results “amounted to an insurrection,” the challenge adds.
“Publicly available evidence, including Rep. Cawthorn’s statements and reports that he or his office coordinated with the Jan. 6 organizers, establish reasonable suspicion that Rep. Cawthorn aided [and abetted] the insurrection, thereby disqualifying him from federal office,” said Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech For People.
Not to be deterred, the next lawsuit from Free Speech For People has been filed against insurrection cheerleader Rep. Marjorie “Q” Greene (R-GA). Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Insurrection Links Bar Her Reelection, Interest Group Says:
A public interest group is formally seeking to block far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from seeking reelection, arguing her links to the Capitol insurrection make her ineligible to serve in Congress.
The complaint, filed Thursday by the nonpartisan advocacy group Free Speech For People, asks the Georgia secretary of state to disqualify the extremist first-term representative from reelection under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist disqualification clause.”
Greene has staunchly defended the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and notoriously called fellow supporters of then-President Donald Trump to “our 1776 moment” in an interview the day before, the complaint notes.
She “voluntarily aided and engaged in insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power,” the complaint argues, which makes her “ineligible” to serve in the House of Representatives.
The 14th Amendment states that no person may hold political office who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid or comfort” to the nation’s enemies. The section was initially aimed at lawmakers who plotted against the government during the Civil War.
Greene has praised those who stormed the Capitol as “patriots,” and has called those facing criminal charges “political prisoners.” Referring to the rioters, she once invoked the Declaration of Independence and said: “It says to overthrow tyrants.” She also has called for the death penalty against President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for “treason.”
Free Speech For People filed a similar challenge to the reelection of Rep. Madison Cawthorn(R-N.C.) early this year. A federal judge dismissed that case on March 4, but the organization has urged North Carolina officials to appeal.
Read the full challenge to Greene’s candidacy here.
Note to Free Speech For People: Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosat are implicated in the Jaunary 6 insurrection. Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar implicated by activist in Capitol insurrection; Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar are again linked to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Where are your lawsuits against Reps. Biggs and Gosar?
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HuffPost reports, “Marjorie Taylor Greene Sues To Stop Challenge To Her Reelection Eligibility”, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/marjorie-taylor-greene-sues-reelection-eligibility_n_62477886e4b0587dee69a850
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a lawsuit Friday challenging a state law that a group of voters is using to challenge her eligibility to run for reelection.
The challenge filed last month with the Georgia secretary of state’s office alleges that Greene, a Republican, helped facilitate the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that disrupted Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. That violates a provision of the 14th Amendment and makes her ineligible to run for reelection, the challenge says.
Greene’s lawsuit asks a judge to declare that the law that the voters are using to challenge her eligibility is itself unconstitutional and to prohibit state officials from enforcing it.
A rarely cited part of the 14th Amendment says no one can serve in Congress “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress . . . to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.” Ratified shortly after the Civil War, it was meant in part to keep representatives who had fought for the Confederacy from returning to Congress.
Georgia law says any voter who is eligible to vote for a candidate may challenge that candidate’s qualifications by filing a written complaint within two weeks after the deadline for qualifying. The secretary of state must then notify the candidate of the challenge and request a hearing before an administrative law judge. After holding a hearing, the administrative law judge presents findings to the secretary of state, who then must determine whether the candidate is qualified.
Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group, filed the challenge March 24 on behalf of the group of voters. A hearing before an administrative law judge has been set for April 13.
Greene “vigorously denies that she ‘aided and engaged in insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power,’” the lawsuit says.
The law only requires the people challenging a candidate’s eligibility to file a written statement of why they believe the candidate isn’t qualified, and that automatically triggers the secretary of state’s request for a hearing before an administrative law judge, the lawsuit says. The fact that a government investigation can be triggered based only on the challenger’s belief violates Greene’s First Amendment right to run for political office, the lawsuit says.
The challenge statute also puts the burden on Greene to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that she didn’t engage in the alleged behavior, and that “burden shifting” violates the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also alleges that the challenge statute “directly usurps” Congress’ constitutional ability to judge whether a member is qualified.
Finally, a law passed in 1872 removed the disqualifications put in place by the part of the 14th Amendment that the challengers are trying to use against Greene, lawsuit says [a thoroughly bullshit argument].
Voters supported by Free Speech for People filed a similar challenge against U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn in North Carolina that has been blocked by a federal judge. The State Board of Elections has until April 11 to decide whether to appeal that ruling.