A lingering question following the January 6, 2021 events was whether or not it would revive the Section Three of Amendment Fourteenth. This is Section 3.
A Senator, Representative, and elector of President or Vice-President shall not be allowed to hold office under the United States or any State. This may be removed by Congress if two-thirds of the House votes so.
At various times, the January 6th Riot has been called “insurrection”, including during the second House impeachment against President Donald Trump. It has attracted a lot of attention to Section Three, which can be used to exclude certain participants from any future public office.
Donald Trump is the main target. Although there are numerous legal issues to Section Three being used to stop Trump being elected for another term, the theories of law are still being developed.
Madison Cawthorn, Representative of North Carolina, fought a ballot challenge to a Section Three argument. However his inability to win the primary election ended this challenge. In that case, the Fourth Circuit only addressed a few issues.
Section Three supporters received their first significant victory by a New Mexico judge today. This case was far easier than either the Cawthorn or Trump challenges.
Cuoy Griffin, a New Mexico county commissioner and founder of Cowboys for Trump, was Cuoy. A vocal supporter of numerous election conspiracies, he ordered an “audit” of electoral returns in his County and prevented the certification for the primary elections in his County in 2022.
Griffin participated also in the January 6th events. Griffin was not one of the most serious criminals. He stood at an outside landing, exhorting his audience to not go into the building. He also livestreamed the event to his followers on social media, as many others did. The riot was celebrated by him and others, who encouraged future armed activity.
Griffin received a sentence of one year in jail for his part in the riot, which was different from Cawthorn. However, Griffin was not convicted for seditious conspiracies but for a misdemeanor crime. This was the Justice Department’s first prosecution.
Today’s New Mexico court case found that January 6th events constituted an insurrection according to the Fourteenth Amendment. Griffin was found guilty of aiding and participating in the insurrectionary activities. The judge used Mark Graber, my co-author on the casebook’s historical research to conclude that Section Three’s terminology regarding insurrection was quite broad in the 19th century.
The defense attorney traveled to the United States in an attempt to be a part of a demonstration. of which was to stop, impede, and delay the constitutionally-mandated process of countingelectoral votes which, in turn led to the certification of Joe Biden being elected as President. DefendantYou knowingly violated barsricades set up by the Capitol Police in order to protect you from interference Congress’s election-certification proceedings. Illegally, the trespasser entered the Capitol steps.He declared that this was “a great day for America!” Trump supporters were assaultedThe Capitol Building was a scene of crime, so law enforcement broke in its windows and forced their way into the building. This halted the election vote count. The defendant was criminally charged with unlawfully violating the electoral vote count. and to occupy restricted Capitol grounds, engaging in disruptive behavior to “impede and “Disrupt” Congress’s approval of 2020 Presidential Election.
The defendant personally played a role in the overwhelming of law enforcement.
You can enter through the location of the first breach to the Capitol Police security perimeter.Capitol’s West Front grounds are where the first crowds began to move into areas that were restricted and then “all”.“Available” Capitol Police units immediately were deployed. You can breach these barriers by Defendant unlawfully remained for over an hour on Capitol grounds. the chaos that delayed Congress’s election-certification proceedings.Defendant enjoyed the brutal attack on the heart while at the insurrection American democracy was threatened with further attacks, unless insurrectionists made false claims. We addressed the debunked allegations of electoral fraud.
Section Three would be able to harvest the Section Three fruit if a sitting official of government was involved in the actual riot. It will be interesting to see how this case develops and what the future holds.