Supreme Court Dismisses Request From Man Convicted in Jan. 6 Incident

(RepublicanView.org) – Couy Griffin, a former Republican county commissioner in Otero County, NM, had his petition to overturn the state’s decision to revoke his right to serve publicly denied by the US Supreme Court.

Back in 2022, Griffin was convicted of trespassing on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The state of New Mexico used the insurrection clause in the Constitution to have Griffin removed from office in September 2022. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars Americans who have participated in an insurrection from serving in public office. His case was one of the few that succeeded against January 6th participants who held office.

Griffin appealed the case and petitioned to have the US Supreme Court overturn it. He argued that he was in Washington DC on January 6 to support Donald Trump and express concerns over the election, not to engage in an insurrection. Griffin also previously refused to certify local election results after concerns over fraud.

He originally claimed that efforts to have him removed from office were purely political and stemmed from his association with Trump. He noted the fact that the majority of plaintiffs involved in his removal were from the state’s more left-leaning counties. The decision originally shocked him, according to NPR. He maintained that he remained peaceful and was never aware of trespassing. He later condemned those who damaged property and clashed with law enforcement officials.

Griffin is the first US elected official to be removed from office over the insurrection clause since it was written during the Civil War. He was also banned from ever holding public office again. The ruling judge claimed that he failed in his oath to defend the Constitution.

Officials originally allowed voters in his district to choose whether Griffin should be allowed to stay in office. The state’s recall committee initiated a petition to have him removed from office over his alleged involvement on January 6 based on voter signatures. They needed at least one-third of his constituents to support the measure. However, the effort failed after they fell short. New Mexico’s Democrat governor would have been able to temporarily assign a replacement if the measure prevailed.