Common Cause New Mexico joins national groups aiming to remove Couy Griffin from office

A New Mexico government watchdog group joined a nationwide effort by national advocacy groups, to see District 2 Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin removed from his office months before the November election in which Griffin said he would not seek another term.

Nonprofit Common Cause New Mexico on Aug. 25 joined the NAACP and National Council of Jewish Women in filing its own amicus briefs in the federal case arguing for Griffin to be removed from his post on the county commission.

The court was awaiting closing arguments in the case as of Monday.

The National Council of Jewish Women, et al. filed its brief on Aug. 1, and NAACP filed its on Aug. 23.

Common Cause New Mexico, per its website, "is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy."

More:Bench trial ends in Couy Griffin removal case, ruling to be delivered at a later date

"Couy Griffin is an insurrectionist," the Common Cause amicus curiae brief states. "He is a conspiracy theorist, He has placed partisanship and loyalty to a dangerous political faction over his sworn loyalty to the Constitution, the duties of his office and the rule of law, and he has engaged in insurrectionist activity against the United States."

The Common Cause brief states that Griffin's conduct satisfies the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment disqualification clause, and his removal could set a precedent for the behavior of future elected officials.

The clause was used based on Griffin's conviction on a federal trespassing count due to his participation in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots.

The 14th Amendment states that an elected official may be removed from their position for acts against the government, including insurrection which some experts have labeled the events of Jan. 6.

The bench trial, which means it was a trial in front of a judge with no jury, was held on Aug. 15 and 16 in Santa Fe.

Both the plaintiffs and defendant in the case were ordered to submit written closing arguments by Aug. 29 with a ruling by Judge Francis J. Mathew, who presided over the bench trial, delivered within 10 days of receiving the closing arguments.

The amicus curiae brief from the National Council of Jewish Women was drafted pro-bono, meaning without any compensation, per the brief.

Constitutional consequences

The 14th Amendment was drafted after the American Civil War of the 1860s and was intended, per the National Council of Jewish Women's brief, to protect the U.S. from elected officials in violation of the Constitution.

"The drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment considered limiting constitutional disqualification to officials who had sided with the Confederacy," the National Council of Jewish Women's, et al. brief states. "Instead, they looked to the future, when a different insurrection might again lure opportunistic officeholders into forsaking their oath to support the Constitution.

"The drafters made provision for that future in the Amendment's Disqualification Clause, and the people, through their legislatures, ratified the drafters' judgement."

From March 2022:Couy Griffin found guilty, here's what it means to Otero County

The brief continues: "Now it is time for this Court to protect our democracy from any further exercise of state power by an official who betrayed his oath when he encouraged, promoted and participated in the violent January 6, 2021 insurrection."

The NAACP amicus curiae brief was filed by the New Mexico State Conference and the NAACP Otero County Branch. It aimed to show that Griffin's and the other participants' behavior during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots were not protected under the First Amendment − which defines protected forms of speech.

The NAACP is the oldest civil rights organization in the U.S. and it was also interested in the case, per the brief, because of past statements made by Griffin the group interpreted as offensive to people of color.

The NAACP also noted in its brief that the new civil rights movement and Black Lives Matter were "fundamentally different from the insurrectionist conduct that occurred on January 6, 2021."

Griffin is expected back in court on Sept. 19 for the criminal case concerning his failure to register his political advocacy group Cowboys for Trump as a political action committee and to pay accrued fines.

New Mexico District Court and an arbitrator chosen by Cowboys for Trump determined that the group, known as C4T, was a political action committee and should be registered as such but Griffin failed to do so.

The arbitrator, and subsequent rulings, determined that aside from registering Cowboys for Trump as a PAC, Griffin and company must submit required financial reports and pay the accrued fines of $7,800 to the New Mexico Secretary of State's Office.

The civil suit filed by New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse-Oliver in June 2021 was appealed in New Mexico District Court after having been in federal court for months until February 2022 when it was sent back to New Mexico District Court by the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: Common Cause, NAACP want Couy Griffin out of office