WASHINGTON (CBS News) — A federal judge on Monday paved the way for an effort to disqualify GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia from running for reelection over her role in the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol to proceed.
The challenge to Greene’s candidacy was mounted by a group of five voters from her congressional district who argued she is ineligible to run for federal office under a provision of the 14th Amendment that was ratified after the Civil War and meant to keep former Confederate officers and officials from holding public office again.
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In a challenge filed with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in late March, the voters argued Greene “voluntarily aided and engaged” in the January 6 insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power, thereby disqualifying her from serving as a member of Congress under the constitutional provision.
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Greene asked a federal court in Atlanta to intervene in the effort from the group of voters, seeking a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order. But Judge Amy Totenberg of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia rebuffed Greene’s request, finding she failed to establish a strong likelihood of success on the legal merits of the case.
“This case involves a whirlpool of colliding constitutional interests of public import,” Totenberg wrote in her 73-page decision. “The novelty of the factual and historical posture of this case — especially when assessed in the context of a preliminary injunction motion reviewed on a fast track — has made resolution of the complex legal issues at stake here particularly demanding.”
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