# Couy Griffin removed from office via 14th Amendment **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 6, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074 "2022-09-06T18:27:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/1 "2022-09-06T18:27:05Z")
Cowboys for Trump founder and Otero (NM) County Commissioner, Couy Griffin, has been removed from office by a judge’s ruling. The judge ruled that Griffin engaged in insurrection and he is barred from office **for life** in accordance with section three of the 14th amendment. > No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. Here’s a Tweet with an image of the order. > Griffin is the first person removed from office in this manner since 1869. Who’s next? Doug Mastriano, GOP candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, did a lot of the same things Griffin did on January 6. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/2 "2022-09-06T19:11:56Z")
Nice! ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/3 "2022-09-06T19:40:17Z")
More of this, please. I’m sick of the pussyfooting around about what this highly coordinated effort meant. It was an insurrection, it was a focused effort to overturn a lawful election. More people should be punished for attempting to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/4 "2022-09-06T19:46:03Z")
What was the context for this ruling? IOW, what wheels were set in motion for the judge to hand this down? ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/5 "2022-09-06T20:02:41Z")
Some New Mexico residents filed a civil suit seeking this precise result. > **[Testimony ends in Couy Griffin trial, his office on the line](https://www.abqjournal.com/news/local/testimony-ends-in-couy-griffin-trial-his-office-on-the-line/article_c2c9e724-e4dd-5e12-a87d-330a578b0e6c.html)** > > Witnesses testify to claim of 'insurrectionist' behavior > Kleinfeld testified Tuesday on the final day of testimony in the civil trial against Griffin. The case, brought by three northern New Mexico residents, contends that Griffin, a Republican who founded the group Cowboys for Trump, violated a Civil War-era clause in the 14th Amendment that prohibits officeholders sworn to uphold the Constitution from engaging in an “insurrection” against the U.S. government. The suit seeks to remove Griffin from holding elected office. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/6 "2022-09-06T20:14:52Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Some New Mexico residents filed a civil suit seeking this precise result. Good for them – and thanks for the background! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/7 "2022-09-06T22:53:48Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > [https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1567172078524145664](https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1567172078524145664) The judgement against Couy be as it may, the Judge’s decision also backs the concept that the Jan 6 protesters were engaging in insurrection. I haven’t been paying too much attention to the individual cases so I’m not sure if that’s the first decision which established that? ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/8 "2022-09-06T23:04:30Z")
Fuck around (from the Albuquerque Journal article linked above): > The plaintiffs called five witnesses over the course of the two-day trial. Griffin called none. > > “Witnesses?” Griffin chuckled when the Journal asked during a break in the trial if he planned on calling any. “I don’t even have a lawyer.” Find out (from the judge’s order today): > Defendant shall be removed from his position as an Otero County Commissioner effective immediately. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/9 "2022-09-07T00:09:30Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Cowboys for Trump Ain’t that precisely how the rest of the world considers the “Trumpian Period” … and you guys go and make it an election slogan! On the other hand, I applaud the initiative. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/10 "2022-09-07T00:26:39Z")
It’s more than just a campaign slogan for this doofus. It’s his whole deal. [![](https://www.kob.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/716B4C6F1A2311FF21D348DCB3BA5F29.jpg) ](https://www.kob.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/716B4C6F1A2311FF21D348DCB3BA5F29.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/11 "2022-09-07T17:19:49Z")
Seconded. Next stop – Josh Hawley! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/12 "2022-09-09T16:05:05Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Next stop – Josh Hawley! And all the other Senators who planned to object on Jan 6th. Then Trump. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couy-griffin-removed-from-office-via-14th-amendment/971074/13 "2022-09-10T17:06:50Z")
Wunnerful news! This needs to happen to a lot more people.