The brand new ruling instantly removes Griffin from his place as a commissioner in Otero County in southern New Mexico.
“Mr. Griffin aided the rebel though he didn’t personally have interaction in violence,” Mathew wrote. “By becoming a member of the mob and trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds, Mr. Griffin contributed to delaying Congress’s election-certification proceedings.”
Griffin he was notified of his removing from workplace by Otero County workers, who prevented him from accessing his work laptop and workplace house at a county constructing in Alamogordo.
Griffin, who served as his personal authorized counsel at a two-day bench trial in August, referred to as the ruling a “complete shame” that disenfranchises his constituents in Otero County.
“The actions which might be being taken are, I imagine, are good proof of the tyranny that we’re proper now dwelling beneath,” Griffin mentioned. “The left continues to talk about democracy being beneath assault, however is that this democracy? Everytime you’re faraway from workplace by the civil courts by the opinion of a liberal decide.”
The ruling arrives amid a flurry of comparable lawsuits across the nation in search of to punish politicians who took half in Jan. 6 beneath provisions of the 14th Modification to the U.S. Structure, which holds that anybody who has taken an oath to uphold the Structure might be barred from workplace for partaking in rebel or rise up.
Ratified shortly after the Civil Conflict, the provisions have been meant partly to maintain representatives who had fought for the Confederacy from returning to Congress.
At trial, Griffin invoked free speech ensures in his protection and argued that eradicating him from workplace would reduce in opposition to the desire of the folks and set a “harmful precedent.” Elected in 2018, Griffin withstood a recall vote final yr however isn’t operating for reelection or different workplace in November.
Mathews wrote that Griffin’s arguments “disregard that the Structure itself displays the desire of the folks.”
Griffin “overlooks that his personal insurrectionary conduct on January 6 sought to subvert the outcomes of a free and truthful election, which might have disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters.”
The lawsuit in opposition to Griffin was introduced by three plaintiffs in New Mexico with assist from the Washington-based Residents for Duty and Ethics in Washington. A federal declined a latest request to take up the case.
Tuesday’s judgement is “a historic win for accountability for the January sixth rebel and the efforts to disrupt the peaceable switch of energy in america,” Residents for Duty and Ethics President Noah Bookbinder mentioned in an announcement.
The NAACP and progressive watchdog group Widespread Trigger filed briefs in assist of Griffin’s removing, citing not solely Griffin’s involvement on the Capitol assault but additionally his latest refusal to assist certify native outcomes of New Mexico’s June 7 major election.
Griffin, a Republican, solid a bunch of rodeo acquaintances in 2019 into the promotional group referred to as Cowboys for Trump that staged horseback parades to unfold President Donald Trump’s conservative message about gun rights, immigration controls and abortion restrictions.
