The Supreme Court will not hear Couy Griffin’s case, upholding the ruling that states can enforce the insurrectionist ban only for their own state offices.
Topline
The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from “Cowboys for Trump” founder Couy Griffin, who was removed from his position as a New Mexico county commissioner after a Jan. 6 riot conviction—marking the first time the court allowed a state to enforce an “insurrectionist ban,” after ruling states couldn’t ban former President Donald Trump from running for federal office.Key Facts
Griffin was removed from office in Otero County in September 2022 after a New Mexico judge found his involvement in Jan. 6—leading to a criminal conviction—constituted participating in an insurrection, and disqualified him under the 14th Amendment’s ban on holding public office for people who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”
Griffin appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, claiming that he was “fundamentally exercising his Constitutional rights to free speech and assembly” and that his only role in the riot was to “gather people to pray together for the United States of America on the unmarked restricted grounds of the Capitol building.”
The Supreme Court denied Griffin’s petition on Monday without commenting further, upholding the earlier ruling and enforcing the lower court’s decision to disqualify him from holding office in New Mexico.
