A New Mexico official has been removed from his post after a federal judge found that he participated in the Capitol riot and was therefore constitutionally disqualified from holding his office, The Hill reports.
Couy Griffin has been removed as Otero County commissioner after New Mexico District Court Judge Francis J. Mathew ruled that, while Griffin did not personally commit violence during the riot, he did trespass on restricted ground, as well as "normalized and incited violence," and therefore was constitutionally prohibited from holding federal or state office according to the 14th Amendment.
Noah Bookbinder, the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington which filed a lawsuit against Griffin following his conviction for trespassing, said in a statement: "This is a historic win for accountability for the January 6th insurrection and the efforts to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power in the United States."
He added, "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."
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