Three new challenges have been filed targeting the eligibility for office of prominent GOP candidates; now, Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.) — known for his ardent support of former President Trump and his promotion of lies about the last presidential election — is in the mix. Also among those facing challenges to their eligibility to run for the offices they’re pursuing are Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem (R), who’s running to become Arizona’s Secretary of State. All of the challenges are over these individuals’ ties to the pro-Trump attack on the Capitol last year, and the efforts targeting these GOP contenders are connected to a section of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that bars individuals who participated in insurrection or provided certain support to enemies of the United States from running for offices across the country.
As summarized by Free Speech for People (one of the interests behind the challenges), the new lawsuits laying out these challenges “allege that Gosar, Biggs, and Finchem are constitutionally disqualified from public office under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, on the grounds that they helped facilitate the January 6, 2021 insurrection.” The organization notes, referring to the section of the 14th Amendment that provided the basis for their claims, that “[no] criminal conviction or prior adjudication is required under the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause, although the defendants would be able to seek judicial review of an adverse decision.” As for Gosar and Biggs in particular, Free Speech for People says that available evidence demonstrates that they “either helped to plan the attack on January 6, or alternatively helped to plan the pre-attack demonstration and/or march on the Capitol with knowledge that it was substantially likely to lead to the attack, and otherwise voluntarily aided the insurrection.”
NBC News: The Jan. 6 Committee is considering an interview with Trump. @NBCNews
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 8, 2022
The group identifies Finchem as having “defended the behavior” of riot participants. In addition, he was involved in efforts to bring together supposed alternate electoral votes for Trump from states where Biden was victorious, and he was actually near the Capitol as the attack unfolded there last year. In any reasonable scenario, Finchem’s actions would automatically disqualify him — how can someone even potentially hold Arizona’s position of Secretary of State, which involves overseeing elections, after having offered even partial support to an effort to overturn the duly documented outcome of the 2020 presidential election? There’s been no widespread effort within the GOP to distance itself from election-related lies, however damaging. Instead, figures like Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) are the exception among Republicans, not the norm.
"We have conducted more than 830 interviews and depositions… Those witnesses didn’t hide behind thin claims of executive privilege. Those witnesses followed the law. They did their patriotic duty.
Mr. Scavino and Mr. Navarro didn’t show up."
-Chair @BennieGThompson— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) April 7, 2022
Similar challenges have also been filed to the eligibility for re-election of Reps. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), both of whom have also been involved in the spreading of lies about the 2020 election and the circumstances surrounding it. Cawthorn also spoke at one point of what he believed to be the apparently reasonable even if tragic potential for further violence among Americans over imaginary election fraud concerns, potentially helping incite additional destruction through his excuses for violence. “If our election systems continue to be rigged and continue to be stolen, then it’s going to lead to one place — and it’s bloodshed…. I will tell you, as much as I am willing to defend our liberty at all costs, there is nothing that I would dread doing more than having to pick up arms against a fellow American. And the way that we can have recourse against that is if we all passionately demand that we have election security in all 50 states,” Cawthorn said. There’s never been any real-world evidence of widespread election fraud in recent U.S. races.
"We live in the greatest constitutional Republic in history. No citizen in our Republic can be a bystander. If we do not stand for our freedom and for our Constitution, we will lose them."
-Vice Chair @RepLizCheney— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) April 7, 2022
