Lawsuit challenging Marjorie Taylor Greene reelection can proceed, judge rules

A lawsuit seeking to block Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from seeking reelection, alleging she is unfit for office due to her support of rioters who illegally broke into the U.S. Capitol, can proceed, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Greene has said that she she “vigorously denies that she ‘aided and engaged in insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power.’”

In a legal challenge filed with the Georgia Secretary of State, a group of voters claimed Greene violated a provision of the U.S. Constitution passed after the U.S. Civil War known as the “Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause.”

Greene requested a temporary injunction against that lawsuit, stating that the lawsuit was unlikely to be resolved before Georgia’s primary elections on May 24th.

Judge Amy Totenberg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia wrote in a 73-page ruling on the injunction that the court focused on whether Greene could “establish a strong likelihood of prevailing on the merits of her legal claims.” Greene had failed “to establish a substantial likelihood of success on the merits,” Totenberg wrote.

Totenberg, who is an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote that after “a thorough analysis of the evidentiary and legal issues presented in this complex matter involving unsettled questions of law, the court finds plaintiff has not carried her heavy burden to establish a strong likelihood of success on the legal merits in this case.”

The ruling will allow a state administrative judge to hear the challenge against Greene on Friday.

Free Speech for People said that it plans to move forward with a hearing in front of a state administrative law judge in Atlanta on Friday. It said Greene has received a subpoena to testify.

“It’s rare for any conspirator, let alone a member of Congress, to publicly admit that the goals of their actions are preventing a peaceful transfer of power and the death of the president-elect and Speaker of the House, but that’s exactly what Marjorie Taylor Greene did,” Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech for People, said in a statement.

“The Constitution disqualifies from public office any elected officials who aided the insurrection, and we look forward to asking Representative Greene about her involvement under oath.”