Judge calls Jan. 6 an ‘insurrection,’ bars ‘Cowboys for Trump’

A judge in New Mexico declared Tuesday that the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was an “insurrection” as he ruled that Otero County Commissioner and “Cowboys for Trump” founder Couy Griffin must be removed from office for participating in the attack.

Griffin is barred for life from holding any federal or state office — including his current role as county commissioner, from which he will be ousted “effective immediately,” Judge Francis Matthew ruled.

Griffin became “constitutionally disqualified” from those positions as of Jan. 6, 2021, the judge concluded.

On that day, a violent mob of former President Donald Trump‘s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, forcing lawmakers to flee their chambers and disrupting the transfer of power to President Joe Biden. Griffin was convicted in March on a misdemeanor charge of breaching restricted Capitol grounds on Jan. 6.

The riot and the planning and incitement that led up to it “constituted an ‘insurrection'” under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, Matthew wrote in the ruling in New Mexico’s 1st Judicial District Court.

The ruling marked the first time that any court found that the Capitol riot met the definition of an insurrection, according to the nonprofit government watchdog group CREW, which represented the plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit to disqualify Griffin.

“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,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in a press release.

Matthew’s ruling also marks the first time since 1869 that a court has disqualified a public official under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, according to CREW.

That section of the Constitution, known as the Disqualification Clause, bars any person from holding civil or military office at the federal or state level of the United States if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Griffin did not enter the Capitol building itself or commit violence during the Jan. 6 riot, but he nevertheless engaged in it and his actions “aided the insurrection,” Matthew ruled.

“By joining the mob and trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds, Mr. Griffin contributed to delaying Congress’s election-certification proceedings,” the judge wrote. Griffin’s presence “contributed to law enforcement being overwhelmed,” and he also “incited, encouraged, and helped normalize the violence” during the riot, Matthew ruled.

The judge also dismissed as “meritless” the arguments put forward by Griffin, who represented himself in the case.

Griffin was arrested less than two weeks after the Capitol riot. He was convicted in March and sentenced on June 17…