In 2022, an Otero County Commissioner in New Mexico named Cuoy Griffin became the first and only American to be barred from public office since 1869 due to the ‘Insurrection Clause’ of the Fourteenth Amendment. Because of a bizarre decision by the US Supreme Court this week, he probably won’t be the last. While the Democrats’ gambit to ban President Donald Trump from the ballot met with failure this month in the high court, the same benefit is not being extended to Trump supporters.
If you haven’t heard of Cuoy Griffin, he’s the founder of the group called ‘Cowboys for Trump.’ Like nearly 100,000 other Americans, Griffin was so upset about the fake and stolen 2020 election that he traveled across the country to peacefully protest at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Griffin was charged with and convicted of misdemeanor trespassing for walking into the building for a few seconds. For that heinous crime, he was sentenced to two weeks in jail, which was suspended.
Judge Francis J. Mathew, from New Mexico’s First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, ruled in 2022 that Griffin’s actions were tantamount to trying to topple the US government. Judge Mathew, a thoroughly dishonest and corrupt liberal judge, decided that by wandering into the Capitol for a few seconds, Griffin was guilty of “insurrection” and permanently barred him from public office.
The Colorado Supreme Court tried to do the same thing to President Trump this year. That court initially attempted to ban Trump from its state’s ballot because of ‘insurrection.’ There were several problems with that decision.
For example, the Insurrection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment doesn’t apply to presidents or vice presidents. It was mainly written to prevent Confederates from the Civil War from holding office. And no prosecuting body has ever charged President Trump with insurrection, which is a real federal crime on the books.
Other than that, it was a rock-solid ruling.
Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court wisely swatted down Colorado’s childishly transparent election interference move. Trump has never been charged with or convicted of insurrection, so individual states can’t bar him from running for office as an insurrectionist.
Cuoy Griffin figured his case would be a slam dunk once he got it to the Supreme Court. After all, he had never been charged with insurrection any more than Donald Trump had. In point of fact, not a single one of the January 6 peaceful protesters has ever been charged with insurrection. Unfortunately for Griffin—and probably for a lot of other Trump supporters in the future—the Supreme Court declined to take up his case. The lower court’s ruling stands, so Cuoy Griffin is permanently banned from public office as an insurrectionist.
This is significant because Democrats now realize that they can abuse the Insurrection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment against their political opponents at the state level.
“This whole thing started on a small scale, with them coming after me, with the specific goal of bringing it up to the big stage with Donald Trump,” Griffin said on CNN. “I was the test case.”
Democrats have also unsuccessfully tried to block congressional Republicans from office, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ). While their efforts have been fruitless at the federal level, Democrats now know they can successfully use this tactic at the state and local levels. Cuoy Griffin may be the first person barred from public office in over 150 years, but he won’t be the last.
