Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had a meltdown on-air on Tuesday morning when asked by WTVC‘s Ilene Gould if participating in an insurrection should bar someone from running for office.
The meltdown comes just one day after District Judge Amy Totenberg refused to dismiss a suit against the temperamental representative in a complaint filed by Georgia voters seeking to kick her off the ballot for her role in the January 6th Capitol insurrection that led to the death of multiple police officers and left many more injured.
Greene is accused of violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment which reads:
“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 same accusations were previously filed against Congressman Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) by voters in his district. That suit was thrown out by Chief US District Judge Richard E. Myers of North Carolina’s Eastern District under the protection of the Amnesty Act of 1872. The Amnesty Act says that it:
“Removed office-holding disqualifications against most of the secessionists who rebelled in the American Civil War, except for “Senators and Representatives of the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, military, and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States.”
When I followed up, here's what happened.
"I'm not accused of anything 'cause I did nothing wrong." pic.twitter.com/4b8MRpc4gY
— Ilene J. Gould (@producerilene) April 19, 2022
Leading up to January 6th, Greene made several inflammatory statements publicly, including this one:
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“You can’t allow it to just transfer power ‘peacefully’ like Joe Biden wants and allow him to become our president because he did not win the election. He’s guilty of treason. it’s a crime punishable by death, this is what treason is. Nancy Pelosi is guilty of treason.”
Greene was apparently hoping for the same result as Rep. Cawthorn and seems disappointed that Judge Totenberg ruled against her in a 73-page decision that referred the case to a state hearing on April 22nd. Judge Totenberg contradicted her judicial colleague in her statement:
“Suffice it to say, the Court is skeptical. It seems much more likely that Congress intended for the 1872 Amnesty Act to apply only to individuals whose disabilities under Section 3 had already been incurred, rather than to all insurrectionists who may incur disabilities under that provision in the future. This reading is supported not only by the text of the statute and the practical limitations on Congress’s authority, but also by pure common sense.”
“As Intervenors’ counsel pointed out, it would make little sense for Congress to have prohibited Jefferson Davi and other leaders of the Confederacy from serving in Congress in 1872 while simultaneously granting blanket amnesty to all future insurrectionists regardless of their rank or the severity of their misconduct. But that is precisely the reading that Plaintiff asks this Court to adopt. The far more plausible reading is that Congress’s grant of amnesty only applied to past conduct.”
Read the entire ruling here.
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Greene will have to testify under oath, much to the delight of Paul Fein. Fein is the legal director of Free Speech For People, an organization dedicated to fighting voter suppression and that is representing voters in several other states. Five voters from Greene’s district have signed on to the suit, including Michael Rasbury. Rasbury had this to say:
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“I believe in democracy. When I served in the Army, I had to take an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
With the primaries just around the corner – May 25th – and county absentee ballots going out April 25th, Greene’s up against the clock. A hearing before Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27th. Raffensperger has the power to invalidate the challenge against her.
But it may be too little, too late for Marjorie Taylor Greene. Her Democratic challenger, Marcus Flowers, is gaining in popularity and fundraising, while Congresswoman Greene — who was one of the GOP’s top moneymakers — has recorded a first-time loss to the tune of $314,000.
Original reporting by Adam Klasfeld at Law & Crime.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick
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