by While the US supreme court looks set to let Donald Trump stay on the ballot this year, a small county in New Mexico on the Texas border could stand alone as the only place where the 14th amendment has been invoked in some time. down to remove a government official. from the ballot.
Couy Griffin, a county commissioner until 2022 in Otero County, which has a population of about 69,000 people, became the first official in more than a century to be removed from office under a little-used provision in the 14th amendment that prohibits resignation out. office. Griffin, founder of a group called Cowboys for Trump, was convicted of unlawfully entering the grounds of the United States Capitol on January 6, a misdemeanor.
Related: The US supreme court appears to have doubts about the Colorado ruling removing Trump from the ballot
“I feel like I was the test pilot or the ground that created anything they’re trying to do legally with Trump, especially with regard to section 3 of the 14th amendment,” Griffin said. He also said he knew the gist of Trump’s case, but didn’t follow the arguments closely.
“It’s almost like watching vomit,” said Griffin, who is appealing his dismissal to the US supreme court. “You look at it long enough to know what it is and then you stop looking at it because it’s so boring. That’s this Colorado stuff.”
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Shortly after the 2020 election, Griffin spoke at a stop-the-theft rally in Albuquerque at an event that was also attended by the New Mexico civil guard, a militia group. He said “normalizing that violence” may be needed to keep Trump in office and participated in a multistate bus tour to recruit people to come to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Judge Francis Mathew wrote in his decision Remove Griffin from the ballot.
Griffin used his position to cast doubt on elections. It prompted prominent election denier David Clements and his wife, Erin, to question the 2020 election in Otero county, which Trump won by a landslide. Griffin shared internal county emails with the Clementses and asked them for guidance on how to respond, Reuters reported. David Clements began to insist on an investigation and hired a disreputable firm to look for fraud.
After the 2022 primary election, the Otero county board of commissioners refused to certify the election, citing vague concerns about fraud. They were finally forced to certify after a lawsuit by the Democratic secretary of state, Maggie Toulouse Oliver.
Griffin was removed from office due to his rebellion charges several months later.
“I imagine this is the kind of thing that the framers of section 3 envisioned,” said Donald Sherman, a lawyer with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who helped bring the lawsuit against Griffin in the case challenging Trump’s eligibility. in Colorado. . “Couy Griffin was undermining democracy from his job even after January 6.”
Griffin hadn’t left the show. Those who disagreed with him were removed from county commission meetings and he appeared at a county commission meeting after being removed from office for arguing with his representative. He has ridden a horse outside the county administration building in protest of his removal. He also said that he planned to ride a horse to his trial at the federal courthouse in Washington DC, but abandoned this idea.
He noted that after January 6, a recall attempt was made against him which failed. The subsequent attempt to remove him from office was successful.
“Since I could not legally, constitutionally, be removed by recall, my enemies used the fraud and corruption of the state district court to remove me,” he said.
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During more than two hours of oral argument earlier this month, the US supreme court appeared concerned that Colorado could unilaterally remove Trump from the ballot and appeared ready to let him run . Trump has warned of “chaos and bedlam” if removed.
In Otero County, some say Griffin’s termination has restored a sense of normalcy to the county commission.
“I think it’s more out of sight, out of mind. When he was here, we had some questions going on, because he was raising the issues. And a lot of those problems seem to have gone away after he was removed from office,” said Robyn Holmes, county clerk.
Griffin has an appeal pending at the US supreme court and hopes that a ruling to return Trump to the ballot would also benefit him. But there are key differences between the two cases.
When he was removed, Griffin was a county commissioner, a local office, and Trump is a candidate for federal office. New Mexico law includes a so-called “quo warranto” statute that allows private citizens to challenge his authority to hold office. In Trump’s case, the justices expressed concern that there was no express statute of Congress explaining how to enforce section 3 for a national candidate. There were some who wondered if section 3 of the 14th amendment might apply to Trump because he was a candidate for office, not an office holder.
Sherman said the case to remove Griffin is not a “test case.”
“It was the first case to be brought against a government office holder who we believe violated his oath and was subject to section 3,” he said. “As much as we were demonstrating a proof of concept, it was important to make the strongest case we could find as quickly as possible. But we recognized Couy Griffin on his own merits, based on his own behavior. And we thought the case was strong.”
Even after being removed from office, Griffin said he would continue to try to get Otero County to block election certifications. “Be prepared for that,” he said.
