A federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama issued a statement on Friday regarding a case involving an attempt to disqualify Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from running for office.
Following a hearing, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg of the Northern District of Georgia hinted that she could allow the challenge to move forward, saying in a hearing that she had “significant questions and concerns” about another federal judge’s decision in North Carolina to block a similar challenge against Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.).
Also, she said she will most likely issue a ruling this week, which could come as soon as Monday.
Newsweek notes further:
The state-level challenge to Greene’s fitness for office comes from a group of voters in Georgia, who claim that she is not fit to hold political office due to her alleged aiding of the Capitol rioters. The challenge from this group has received the backing of various left-wing activists and constitutional experts.
In response, Greene filed a counter lawsuit in a higher federal court, calling for the legal challenge to be dismissed, according to CNN. The Georgia representative will seek reelection in the state’s 14th District in the midterm elections this November.
Two days after Totenberg’s expected ruling, a state-level judge is scheduled to address the issues at the heart of the challenge against Greene: whether or not she aided Capitol insurrectionists, and if so, whether or not that fact should disqualify her from holding political office, CNN reported. Aiding or participating in an insurrection against the U.S. government disqualifies citizens from holding office under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
James Bopp Jr., Greene’s attorney, has dismissed the lawsuit against his client as “50 pages of newspaper articles, hearsay, and political hyperbole,” CNN reported. Bopp, who himself leans conservative, also warned during the court hearing on Friday that a ruling against Green could eventually lead to challenges against Trump’s fitness for office.
The suit, which was filed with assistance from the left-wing group Free Speech For People, quoted Greene’s comments in the lead-up to President Joe Biden’s inauguration in which she accused him and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of treason.
Also, she has reiterated the former president’s claims that the election was “rigged” and that Biden was not the legitimate victor. As such, she vowed not to support a peaceful transition of power, but she did not say she would lead, encourage, or participate in any anti-government violence.
In Cawthorn’s case, U.S. District Court Judge Richard E. Myers ruled from the bench that the Sect. 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment is longer in force because Congress passed laws in 1872 and 1898 granting blanket amnesty for the Civil War.
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