'A historic win': Judge removes Cowboys for Trump founder from commissioner post over January 6th
Back in June, far-right MAGA Republican Couy Griffin — the founder of Cowboys for Trump and a county commissioner in Otero County, New Mexico — was ordered to pay a fine and was sentenced to 14 days in jail and one year of supervised release for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building, although he didn’t have to report to jail because of the time he had been incarcerated before being granted bond. Griffin, however, didn’t lose his county commission position — until now.
On Tuesday, September 6, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government (CREW) reported that a New Mexico judge, Francis J. Matthew, had ordered Griffin to be removed from his position. CREW, in a lawsuit, had asked that Griffin be removed from office under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment because of his activities on January 6, 2021. And exactly 20 months after the January 6 insurrection, CREW announced that it had won its lawsuit against Griffin.
In its official statement, CREW President Noah Bookbinder said, “This is a historic win for accountability for the January 6th insurrection and the efforts to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power in the United States. Protecting American democracy means ensuring those who violate their oaths to the Constitution are held responsible. This decision makes clear that any current or former public officials who took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution and then participated in the January 6th insurrection can and will be removed and barred from government service for their actions.”
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In the lawsuit against Griffin, CREW was joined by law firms and attorneys that included Freedman Boyd Hollander and Goldberg PA; Dodd Law Office, LLC; the Law Office of Amber Fayerberg, LLC; and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
In an official statement, Christopher Dodd — president of Dodd Law Office, LLC — said, “January 6, 2021 was a dark day in our history. The court’s ruling today is a historic moment for our country. Mr. Griffin’s removal and bar from holding office again is a step towards obtaining justice and restoring the rule of law.”
Attorney Daniel Small of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC had an official statement as well, saying, “The Court’s findings that Mr. Griffin engaged in repeated efforts to mobilize a mob and incite them to violence on January 6, 2021 amply support the Court’s conclusion that he is unqualified under the Fourteenth Amendment to hold public office.”
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