Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been termed an “insurrectionist” in a lawsuit that seeks to prevent her from running for reelection.
The legal action filed in Georgia by a group of voters asked state officials to prevent the proudly outspoken congresswoman from seeking a second term in elections to be held in January.
At the heart of the legal action is a claim that the 47-year-old Donald Trump loyalist has rendered herself unfit for office through her support for protesters who attack the US Capitol building on Jan 6 2021.
A provision of the US constitution that was passed in the 19th Century and known as the “Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause” prohibits politicians from running for Congress if they have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States.
It also says they cannot seek office if they have “given aid or comfort” to the nation’s enemies.
The action in Georgia voters is being spearheaded in part by Free Speech For People, a Texas-based advocacy group that brought a similar challenge to North Carolina Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn’s qualifications for office.
A federal judge dismissed the case against Mr Cawthorn on March 4, but Free Speech for People has urged North Carolina officials to appeal that ruling.
“Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, known as the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause, provides: “No Person shall be a Senator or Representative 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, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof”, the group said in a statement.
“The purpose of the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause, passed in the wake of the Civil War, is not to punish the oathbreaker but rather to protect the country.”
It said there was widespread evidence that Ms Greene, a first-term congresswoman elected in 2020 to Georgia’s 14th congressional district, had supported attempts to undermine Joe Biden’s victor over Mr Trump and claimed, falsely that the election was rigged.
The legal filing, which is 40 pages long, alleges “Greene voluntarily aided and engaged in an insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power”.
There was no response to the lawsuit from Ms Greene, and her office did not immediately respond to questions from The Independent.
Ms Greene has downplayed and justified the Jan 6 2021 attack when hundreds of supporters of Mr Trump stormed the federal legislature building in Washington as part of a campaign to “stop the steal”, an effort to undermine Mr Biden’s victory and prevent him from taking office.
The day of protests, which started with with a fiery speech from Mr Trump, were part of post-election effort by the then-president to overturn the results, something that failed in at least 60 rulings in different courts
“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,” Ms Greene said during a radio programme in October.
She has also visited those detained after the protests and called them “political prisoners”.
The legal challenge will be heard by an administrative law judge.
Ms Greene could also ask a federal judge to step in and block the challenge.
Additional reporting by Reuters
