Judge Rules Against Marjorie Greene In 14th Amendment Challenge Case

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Federal Judge Amy Totenberg has ruled that a challenge to the eligibility for re-election of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) can proceed. The challenge is based on provisions of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that restrict individuals from running for office if they’ve engaged in insurrection or provided certain support to enemies of the United States, and in Greene’s case, those behind the challenge are spotlighting her connections to last year’s attack on the Capitol. Greene was among the legislators promoting false claims of widespread election fraud and calling for urgent action — a call that the rioters took seriously.

After the challenge to her eligibility for re-election was initially filed, Greene filed a lawsuit in hopes of stopping it, and that lawsuit is what provided the context for Totenberg’s ruling that the challenge can proceed. Totenberg remarked, “This case involves a whirlpool of colliding constitutional interests of public import… The novelty of the factual and historical posture of this case — especially when assessed in the context of a preliminary injunction motion reviewed on a fast track — has made resolution of the complex legal issues at stake here particularly demanding.” Totenberg “determined that Ms. Greene had failed to prove that there was a strong likelihood that she would prevail on the merits of her legal claims,” The New York Times summarizes. Now, an administrative judge in Georgia is slated to hear arguments over Greene’s eligibility for office in connection to the original challenge this coming Friday.

Notably, although they took no apparent position on how the original challenge itself should be decided, Georgia authorities backed proceeding with the original process, involving steps including appearing before that administrative judge. As Russell Willard of the Georgia state attorney general’s office explained the argument, “You have an ongoing proceeding that is in compliance with state law, and we would argue in compliance with federal law,” and officials pushed for it to proceed. Greene’s lawyer in this matter, James Bopp, Jr., recently argued there hadn’t been any insurrection charges issued by prosecutors in connection to the Capitol riot… although there have been seditious conspiracy charges, so what exactly was he actually getting at? One of those to face the allegation of seditious conspiracy, Oath Keepers member Joshua James, pleaded guilty to the charge.

Ron Fein, who serves as legal director at Free Speech for People, which is involved in the Greene challenge, remarked after Totenberg’s ruling that “Judge Totenberg’s well-reasoned opinion explains why the Georgia voters who filed this challenge against Greene have the right to have their challenge heard, and why none of Greene’s objections to the Georgia state challenge have any merit… At the hearing on Friday, we look forward to questioning Greene under oath about her involvement in the events of Jan. 6, and to demonstrating how her facilitation of the insurrection disqualifies her from public office under the United States Constitution.” Greene, meanwhile, predictably isn’t taking kindly to the challenge. “This organized funded effort by the communists at Free Speech For People… is a true threat to our elections and should be investigated immediately as an attempt to thwart and steal elections. This is a very dangerous attack on our Republic,” Greene recently ranted on Twitter, seemingly lost in far-right fantasies that Communists lurk behind just about everything she dislikes. Can she even define Communist?