Judge allows voters to challenge Marjorie Taylor Greene’s reelection run

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A federal judge ruled Monday that a lawsuit seeking to challenge Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s reelection run can proceed.
• The suit alleges that Greene is unfit for office because she helped facilitate the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
• Greene recently filed a lawsuit asking a judge to declare that the law that the voters are using to challenge her reelection run is itself unconstitutional.

A federal judge ruled Monday that the lawsuit seeking to disqualify Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from running for reelection can proceed. A group of Georgia voters filed the lawsuit citing Greene’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The legal challenge was filed on March 24 with the Georgia secretary of state’s office. It was filed on behalf of the group of voters by Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group.

The challenge alleges Greene of helping facilitate the Jan. 6 riot, violating a rarely cited provision of the 14th Amendment. This leads to the Republican’s ineligibility to run for reelection, according to the challenge.

The amendment 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.”

The provision was ratified immediately after the Civil War to keep representatives who had fought for the Confederacy from returning to Congress.

Earlier this month, Greene filed a lawsuit challenging a state law that the voters are using to challenge her eligibility to run for reelection.

In a 73-page ruling, Judge Amy Totenberg denied the congresswoman’s request for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order. The judge wrote that Greene failed to meet the “burden of persuasion” in her request for injunctive relief.

Totenberg was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia by former President Barack Obama.

“Any voter who is eligible to vote for a candidate may challenge that candidate’s qualifications by filing a written complaint within two weeks after the deadline for qualifying,” according to a Georgia law. The candidate will be notified by the secretary of state of the challenge. A hearing will then be requested before an administrative law judge. The secretary of state will determine whether the candidate is qualified after the administrative law judge presents findings.

Greene said in her lawsuit that she “vigorously denies that she ‘aided and engaged in insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power.”

Source: CBS News