3-18-2024 10:57am

US Supreme Court Rules Against Cowboys for Trump Founder Couy Griffin

Chris Edwards Editor

Supreme Court rules against Couy Griffin (AlamogordoTownNews.com

In a significant blow to local Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin justices for the US Supreme Court on Monday denied Couy Griffin’s petition to consider his effort to overturn the rulings of courts in New Mexico that deemed him ineligible from holding office there ever again.

The Supreme Court announced it was turning away the convicted member of the January events who was barred from public office in New Mexico under the Constitution’s “insurrection clause” seeking to reverse his disqualification.

The writing was on the wall according to many legal scholars in the Trump Colorado ruling when it came to Couy Griffin. Griffin, who was convicted in 2022 of misdemeanor offenses related to his role in the breach of Capitol grounds, was a member of the Otero County board of commissioners until the New Mexico courts ordered him removed later that year

The former Cowboys for Trump founder was an early and vocal advocate of discredited theories about election fraud.

It’s the Supreme Court’s first action related to the “insurrection clause” since it overturned the Colorado state Supreme Court’s decision to bar Donald Trump from the ballot. In their decision, the justices ruled that states should not have unilateral power to disqualify candidates for federal office — but that state offices are another matter.

“We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office,” the justices wrote.

Local guy, Couy Griffin put Alamogordo on the map as a area deeply embedded in Trumpian political philosophy and was the first official in modern times to be barred from office under the “insurrection clause” of the 14th Amendment, which was passed following the Civil War to block ex-Confederates from taking the reins of the government they fought against.

During his tenure on the County Commission under the leadership of Vickie Marquardt who followed his lead on agenda items the local commission bought into the “election steal conspiracies” and attempted to not certify the local elections until the state attorney general stepped in.

The Otero County Commission voted 2-1, with one of the central figures in the refusal to certify the results, Commissioner Couy Griffin, voting “no.” This was just one of many examples of the issues taken on by the commission that were controversial while Griffin was in office

Griffin’s case two years ago was at the time seen as an early test of the applicability of the amendment to the rioters on Jan. 6. The liberal government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington — or CREW — backed the lawsuit that led to Griffin’s disqualification and ultimate Supreme Court decision.

CREW was also behind the lawsuit out of Colorado that initially ruled Trump disqualified, which the Supreme Court overturned earlier this month.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin’s 14th Amendment disqualification appeal, Noah Bookbinder, President of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which brought the case against Griffin, issued the following statement:

“By refusing to take up this appeal, the Supreme Court keeps in place the finding that January 6th was an insurrection, and ensures that states can still apply the 14th Amendment’s disqualification clause to state officials. Crucially, this decision reinforces that every decision-making body that has substantively considered the issue has found that January 6th was an insurrection, and Donald Trump engaged in that insurrection. Now it is up to the states to fulfill their duty under Section 3 to remove from office anyone who broke their oath by participating in the January 6th insurrection.”

Griffin released the following statement on Twitter X
”I just found out (through the media) that my appeal to the SCOTUS has been denied. Very disappointed. I don’t even know what to say. But I thank you for your prayers and for standing with me through this. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸”

This is an evolving story and the AlamogordoTownNews.com radio edition will release an exclusive radio interview and podcast interview of the reaction from Couy Griffin this evening.