A group of voters in Georgia have filed a lawsuit claiming that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is “is not qualified to seek and hold the public office” because of her involvement in the January 6th Capitol riot.
The lawsuit alleges that Greene, among the most ardent Trump supporters in Congress, violated a provision of the U.S. Constitution known as the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause when she “repeatedly advocated for political violence, up to and including, her encouragement of insurrectionists on January 6.”
Reuters explains:
The clause, passed after the 19th Century U.S. Civil War, prohibits politicians from running for Congress if they have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States, or “given aid or comfort” to the nation’s enemies.
The Georgia voters are represented by Free Speech For People, a Texas-based advocacy group that brought a similar challenge to Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn’s qualifications for office.
The Cawthorn case was recently dismissed, but an appeal is still possible.
In seeking to disqualify Greene, the lawsuit writes “After taking the oath to defend and protect the Constitution, before, on, and after Jan. 6, 2021, Greene voluntarily aided and engaged in an insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power.”
Greene has pushed all types of verifiably untrue theories since she came to prominence in 2020. She has repeated falsehoods about the COVID-19 vaccines, mask wearing, and alleged fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
She has also inflamed anti-Semitic tropes and encouraged discrimination and violence against the LGBT community.
Green has continued to defend the January 6th riot, which resulted in 140 police officers being injured.
“Jan. 6 was just a riot at the Capitol and if you think about what our Declaration of Independence says, it says to overthrow tyrants,” Greene said during a radio program last fall.
The legal challenge to her re-election bid was filed with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who “must now request a hearing before an administrative law judge to determine whether the lawmaker is qualified for office,” reports Axios.
