Supreme Court upholds ban on ‘Cowboys for Trump’ founder from holding public office
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a request to hear an appeal from a former New Mexico county commissioner who was removed from office after participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Couy Griffin, formerly a commissioner in New Mexico’s Otero County and founder of “Cowboys for Trump,” was convicted of trespassing in the Capitol in 2022. That same year, Mr. Griffin became the first public official in more than a century to be disqualified because of a constitutional ban on insurrectionists holding office contained in a provision of the 14th Amendment.
As usual, the court gave no reasons for rejecting the appeal. Monday’s order means that Mr. Griffin will remain barred from holding or holding public office in New Mexico.
The Supreme Court declined to hear Mr. Griffin’s appeal two weeks after saying that Colorado could not use that same provision to prevent former President Donald J. Trump from appearing at the state’s presidential primaries. The Colorado Supreme Court — which heard a case brought by six Colorado voters — had ruled in December that Trump was guilty of insurrection and barred from holding public office.
In overturning that decision, the nine justices unanimously sided with Trump and said states could not bar presidential candidates from the ballot, although there was disagreement among the justices over the scope of what the ruling should have settled. The majority said Congress was responsible for enforcing the provision against federal officeholders and candidates.
By simply upholding the ban in New Mexico, the court left a number of questions unresolved.
Mr. Griffin’s attorney, Peter Ticktin, said he believed the court’s order means his client will remain barred from state and federal office for life. “This puts Couy in a league of his own,” Mr. Ticktin said. “He is the only American removed from office under the 14th Amendment, and we are exploring whether there is a way to return to the New Mexico courts so that justice can be done.”
He added: “We all know that the proceedings against Couy were against the law now that the Supreme Court has ruled in the Trump case and rejected the attempt to remove him from the ballot in Colorado.”
Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed the case against Mr. Griffin, said the court “upheld” the finding that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. “Now it is up to the states to fulfill their duty under Section 3 to remove from office anyone who broke their oath by participating in the January 6 insurrection,” he said.
In a post on social media after the order, Mr. Griffin had his own interpretation: “I am officially barred by a court order from running for any office other than the office of President. I wonder if that applies to the office of vice president?’
In a later post he said he had appealed on charges of trespassing.
“It only takes one card to bring down the house! Still praying for justice. Trump card!!” Mr. Griffin wrote.
On January 6, 2021, Mr. Griffin, an outspoken denier of the 2020 election results, stormed through the barricades of the Capitol, accompanied by a videographer, and addressed the crowd through a megaphone. He did not enter the building.
For months before the Jan. 6 riot, Mr. Griffin had attended Stop the Steal rallies and tried to recruit protesters to go to Washington, New Mexico District Court Judge Francis J. Mathew wrote in his decision excluding Mr. Griffin from his future office. .
In March 2022, Judge Trevor N. McFadden, presiding judge of the Federal District Court in Washington, found Mr. Griffin guilty of one misdemeanor charge of trespassing and acquitted him of another charge of disorderly conduct. Mr. Griffin was sentenced to 14 days in jail.
Six months later, Judge Mathew issued his ruling – in response to a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington – that Mr. Griffin should be removed from office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was passed during the Reconstruction era. in an attempt to prevent members of the Confederacy from holding office.