Lawsuit challenging Marjorie Taylor Greene reelection can proceed, judge rules

[April 19, 2022]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A lawsuit seeking to block Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from seeking reelection, alleging she is unfit for office because of her support of rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol, can proceed, a federal judge ruled Monday.  

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) holds a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol following a private visit to the Holocaust Museum, to express contrition for previous remarks about Jewish people, in Washington, U.S. June 14, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo/File Photo

In a legal challenge filed with the Georgia Secretary of State, a group of voters claimed Greene violated a provision of the U.S. Constitution passed after the U.S. Civil War known as the "Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause."

Greene sought a temporary injunction against that lawsuit, arguing it was unlikely to be resolved before Georgia's primary elections on May 24.

Judge Amy Totenberg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia wrote in a 73-page ruling on the injunction that the court focused on whether Greene could "establish a strong likelihood of prevailing on the merits of her legal claims."

Greene had failed "to establish a substantial likelihood of success on the merits," Totenberg wrote.

Greene has downplayed and justified the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, in which supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, battling with police to gain entry to the building.

The attack followed a fiery speech by Trump near the White House repeated his false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread fraud.

"Jan. 6 was just a riot at the Capitol and if you think about what our Declaration of Independence says, it says to overthrow tyrants," Greene said during a radio program in October.

She said in a statement earlier this year that she opposes all forms of political violence.

(Reporting by Heather Timmons)

[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.