A lawsuit filed on behalf of a handful of Arizona voters against Representative Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs as well as state Representative Mark Finchem in Arizona has failed to keep them off the ballot. The lawsuit claimed that Gosar, Biggs, and Finchem could not hold office because they allegedly participated in an insurrection against the United States government. None of the lawmakers are accused of participating in an actual attack on Congress. The lawsuit stems from the fact that representative Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs and Mark Finchem all helped to organize the January 6th, 2021, rally in Washington DC. The plaintiff’s, completely ignoring the fact that these gentlemen have the right to association and organization for political reasons, as well as free speech. Organizing a rally that is political in nature is not the same thing as attacking the capital.
Maricopa County Superior Court judge Christopher Coury made his decision public Friday. The judge agreed with the lawmakers’ attorneys which said Congress had no way of enforcement of the mechanism of the 14th amendment except for a criminal conviction. The judge also noted that Congress has proposed such a law in the wake of the January 6th, 2021, psychological operations by the government against the United States people, but it has not been made into law yet. “Therefore, given the current state of the law and in accordance with the United States Constitution, plaintiffs have no private right of action to assert claims under the disqualification clause,” Coury wrote. “The text of the Constitution is mandatory. It sets forth the single arbiter of the qualifications of members of Congress; that single arbiter is Congress.”
The attorneys representing the voters, the plaintiffs in this case, had urged the judge to hold a three-day trial. The judge dismissed this, noting that the election challenge case is, by definition, rushed .
The attorneys for Gosar raised free speech issues. Ironically Free Speech For People, the group representing the plaintiffs which was trying to silence these Representatives speech, vowed to appeal the Supreme Court. They said that the ruling was contrary to Arizona’s law. It’s interesting that they discern only certain people should have free speech. Their fringe position is that these candidates who simply organize a political rally had attempted to engage in an insurrection against the federal government in a statement. “Arizona is not exempted from the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution,” the group said in a statement. “A candidate who has taken an oath of office and then engaged in insurrection has no place on a future Arizona ballot.”
Free Speech For People are also pursuing lawsuits against members of Congress in Georgia and North Carolina. It appears that Free Speech For People should probably change its name to No Free Speech For People Unless We Say So. In Georgia they are trying to throw Marjorie Taylor Greene off the ballot and she was in court Friday. In North Carolina they are trying to throw US representative Madison Cawthorn off the ballot.
https://ussanews.com/2022/05/03/az-judge-delivers-bad-news-to-democrats/
A lawsuit filed on behalf of a handful of Arizona voters against Representative Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs as well as state Representative Mark Finchem in Arizona has failed to keep them off the ballot. The lawsuit claimed that Gosar, Biggs, and Finchem could not hold office because they allegedly participated in an insurrection against the United States government. None of the lawmakers are accused of participating in an actual attack on Congress. The lawsuit stems from the fact that representative Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs and Mark Finchem all helped to organize the January 6th, 2021, rally in Washington DC. The plaintiff’s, completely ignoring the fact that these gentlemen have the right to association and organization for political reasons, as well as free speech. Organizing a rally that is political in nature is not the same thing as attacking the capital.
Maricopa County Superior Court judge Christopher Coury made his decision public Friday. The judge agreed with the lawmakers’ attorneys which said Congress had no way of enforcement of the mechanism of the 14th amendment except for a criminal conviction. The judge also noted that Congress has proposed such a law in the wake of the January 6th, 2021, psychological operations by the government against the United States people, but it has not been made into law yet. “Therefore, given the current state of the law and in accordance with the United States Constitution, plaintiffs have no private right of action to assert claims under the disqualification clause,” Coury wrote. “The text of the Constitution is mandatory. It sets forth the single arbiter of the qualifications of members of Congress; that single arbiter is Congress.”
The attorneys representing the voters, the plaintiffs in this case, had urged the judge to hold a three-day trial. The judge dismissed this, noting that the election challenge case is, by definition, rushed .
The attorneys for Gosar raised free speech issues. Ironically Free Speech For People, the group representing the plaintiffs which was trying to silence these Representatives speech, vowed to appeal the Supreme Court. They said that the ruling was contrary to Arizona’s law. It’s interesting that they discern only certain people should have free speech. Their fringe position is that these candidates who simply organize a political rally had attempted to engage in an insurrection against the federal government in a statement. “Arizona is not exempted from the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution,” the group said in a statement. “A candidate who has taken an oath of office and then engaged in insurrection has no place on a future Arizona ballot.”
Free Speech For People are also pursuing lawsuits against members of Congress in Georgia and North Carolina. It appears that Free Speech For People should probably change its name to No Free Speech For People Unless We Say So. In Georgia they are trying to throw Marjorie Taylor Greene off the ballot and she was in court Friday. In North Carolina they are trying to throw US representative Madison Cawthorn off the ballot.
https://ussanews.com/2022/05/03/az-judge-delivers-bad-news-to-democrats/
(post is archived)