The Supreme Court decision in the Donald Trump insurrection case has saved Marjorie Taylor Greene and other January 6, 2021 Republicans from disqualification challenges, a legal expert has told Newsweek.
In April 2022, a Georgia judge ruled that a disqualification challenge could proceed against Greene, a pro-Trump Republican, for her alleged support for the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol. More than 130 Republicans have faced challenges to their eligibility to serve in office based on their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, Newsweek reported in January.
The Supreme Court ruling on Monday that Donald Trump could not be disqualified from the Colorado presidential ballot has now ended ongoing challenges to other January 6 Republicans, New York University constitutional law professor Peter Shane told Newsweek.
The court found that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, a post-Civil War addition, could not be used to remove Trump from state ballots in the 2024 presidential elections. His opponents had said that his alleged attempts to overthrow the 2020 presidential election result made him an insurrectionist under the wordings of the 14th Amendment. The former president has denied any wrongdoing.
The Supreme Court reversed a Colorado court's decision that determined Trump was ineligible. In a unanimous ruling, the nine Supreme Court justices agreed that an individual state cannot choose who gets to run for the White House.
Others facing January 6 disqualification challenges included Greene in Georgia and Madison Cawthorn in North Carolina.
"By deciding that states may not disqualify oath-breaking insurrectionists from running from any federal office, not just the presidency, the majority has let off the hook any members of the last Congress who might yet be implicated in the January 6-related prosecutions," Shane said.
"Thus, for example, the state of North Carolina could not have disqualified Madison Cawthorn, and other states could not disqualify incumbent representatives and senators no matter what their role leading up to January 6."
In March 2022, a federal judge rejected a challenge to Cawthorn's candidacy. He went on to lose the Republican nomination. Newsweek sought email comment from Cawthorn and Taylor Greene on Tuesday.
Shane said the ruling means that candidates can only be removed by legislation that specifically references Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was introduced to stop Confederates from gaining federal government power after the Civil War.
The 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."
The Supreme Court majority "seems to say that Section 3 enforcement against federal candidates or officers needs to be based on a statute specifically tailored to Section 3," Shane said.
In April 2022, Greene filed a lawsuit asking 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.
Judge Amy Totenberg, in a 73-page ruling, denied Greene's request for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order.
Totenberg, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia by former President Barack Obama, wrote that Greene had failed to meet the "burden of persuasion" in her request for injunctive relief.
Free Speech for People is a national election and campaign finance reform group. It had filed the challenge on behalf of the group of voters on March 24.
Greene said in her lawsuit that she "vigorously denies that she aided and engaged in insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power."
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
