Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is expected to testify at a hearing Friday to determine her eligibility to seek reelection in light of her alleged connections to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Though similar measures against other Republicans, including Reps. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Jim Banks of Indiana, have failed, a federal judge in Georgia determined Monday that the case against Greene could proceed, with the first hearing set for Friday morning. At issue is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars from public office anyone who “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the” United States or has “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
STOP THE ‘STEAL’: MARJORIE TAYLOR GREEN DECRIES CHALLENGE TO ‘RIP’ HER FROM THE BALLOT
U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg denied Greene’s request for the lawsuit to be thrown out. The hearing Friday before an Atlanta judge will be to make a recommendation to Georgia Secretary of State Ben Raffensperger on how to proceed with the effort to exclude her from the ballot.
In Georgia, any qualified voter in the candidate’s district may submit an appeal if they question that candidate’s qualifications. Free Speech for People, a campaign reform group behind the challenges to several of what it calls “insurrectionists” seeking election, is representing a group of Taylor’s current constituents.
The argument against Greene rests on accusations that she incited insurrection beforehand by encouraging people to view the rally as a “1776 moment” echoing the American Revolution and in a video about the 2020 election saying, “You can’t allow it to just transfer power ‘peacefully’ like Joe Biden wants” (with air quotes around the word “peacefully”).
“You can’t allow it to just transfer power ‘peacefully’ like Joe Biden wants, and allow him to become our president. Because he did not win this election. It’s being stolen and the evidence is there,” Marjorie Taylor Greene. Expel. pic.twitter.com/nbNR1kzZeN
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) February 4, 2021
The judge and secretary of state will not only have to determine if her words here first amount to “inciting insurrection” but if they also qualify as “engaging in insurrection.” Precedent is mixed on this distinction, with court decisions varying on if one equals the other.
As every other measure to keep Republicans who were allegedly sympathetic to the Capitol rioters off the ballot has thus far failed, it’s unlikely that the bid to do so to Greene will be successful. The judge in Cawthorn’s case ruled that lawmakers are protected by the 1873 Amnesty Act, even if they do commit insurrection. Even so, it may bring more information about Jan. 6 to light, as Greene is the first House Republican who has had to testify publicly under oath about the matter.
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For her part, Greene “vigorously denies” that she was inciting any opposition to the peaceful transition of power and accused her political enemies of robbing her constituents of the ability to reelect her if they want.
“They are trying to rip my name off the ballot and steal my district’s ability to reelect me and send me back to Congress,” she told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson on Monday.
Historically, only Congress has disqualified one of its own from reelection, the last time being in 1919 when a member was convicted of spying for Germany.
