John,

This month, a New Mexico judge ruled that Couy Griffin, a New Mexico county commissioner and founder of the group "Cowboys for Trump," must be removed from office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, based on his participation in the January 6th insurrection. Free Speech For People consulted regularly with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which led this case, and this victory was built upon our prior work in our 14point3 campaign. This ruling includes the following important points:

• The judge’s decision cited as legal precedent our 14point3 case against Marjorie Taylor Greene.
   
• The judge reaffirmed, as we had established in the Greene case, that no prior criminal conviction is necessary to enforce the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
   
• The judge cited the correct standard for what it means to engage in insurrection (which we had also won in the Greene case).

This is an important victory for the work of upholding Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment and protecting our republic.

FSFP Legal Director Ron Fein recently appeared on Rising Up With Sonali to discuss the New Mexico ruling and the implications it has for challenges to the candidacies of other insurrectionists, including former President Trump, should he decide to run for public office again.

“It’s a valuable case, it’s valuable precedent,” Ron told Sonali. “It was built on the case that we at Free Speech For People brought against Marjorie Taylor Greene and it helps establish further precedent that would help in a disqualification case against Donald Trump.”