Attempt to disqualify Greene from ballot rejected
ATLANTA — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger accepted a judge’s findings Friday and said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is qualified to run for re-election.
A group of voters had filed a complaint with Raffensperger’s office, saying Greene should be barred from running for reelection under a seldom-invoked provision of the 14th Amendment having to do with insurrection.
Georgia Administrative Law Judge Charles Beaudrot last month held a hearing on the matter and ruled Friday that Greene is eligible. He then sent his findings to Raffensperger, who was responsible for making the final decision.
After Raffensperger adopted the judge’s decision, the group that filed the complaint vowed to appeal.
It was an awkward position to be in for the secretary of state who drew the ire of former President Donald Trump after he resisted pressure to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia.
Greene has been a staunch ally of Trump while continuing to spread unproven claims about the 2020 election being “stolen.” Raffensperger, meanwhile, has consistently defended the integrity of the election in Georgia.
Greene applauded Beaudrot’s ruling and called the challenge to her eligibility an “unprecedented attack on free speech, on our elections, and on you, the voter.”
The challenge to Greene’s eligibility was filed by Free Speech for People, a national election reform group, on behalf of five voters who allege the GOP congresswoman played a significant role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that disrupted Congress’ certification of Biden’s presidential victory. That puts her in violation of a seldominvoked part of the 14th Amendment having to do with insurrection and makes her ineligible to run for re-election, the challengers argued.
During the April 22 hearing, Ron Fein, a lawyer for the voters, noted that in a TV interview the day before the attack at the U.S. Capitol, Greene said the next day would be “our 1776 moment.” Lawyers for the voters said some supporters of then-President Trump used that reference to the American Revolution as a call to violence.
“In fact, it turned out to be an 1861 moment,” Fein said, alluding to the start of the Civil War.
Greene acknowledged encouraging a rally to support Trump, but she said she wasn’t aware of plans to storm the Capitol. Greene said she used social media posts to encourage people to be safe and stay calm.
The challenge to her eligibility is based on a section of the 14th Amendment that 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.” Ratified shortly after the Civil War, it was meant in part to keep representatives who had fought for the Confederacy from returning to Congress.
James Bopp, a lawyer for Greene, argued his client engaged in protected political speech and was, herself, a victim of the attack on the Capitol, not a participant.
Beaudrot wrote that there’s no evidence that Greene participated in the attack or that she communicated with or gave directives to people who were involved.