(Headline USA) A federal appeals court has turned away a constitutional challenge by the support group Cowboys for Trump and co-founder Couy Griffin to New Mexico election laws and registration requirements for political groups.
In a written order obtained Wednesday, Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich of the Denver-based U.S. 10th District Court of Appeals declined to reverse a lower court ruling that upheld state registration requirements for Cowboys for Trump as a political organization.
Griffin, a Republican county commissioner from Tularosa in southern New Mexico, sued New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver in 2020 in response to mounting pressure on Cowboys for Trump to register as a political committee in New Mexico, and Griffin’s concerns that might lead to other disclosure requirements about contributions and spending.
The decision comes as conservatives face growing alarm that their identities could be doxxed, leading to threats of stigmatization and cancellation by woke institutions, targeting by corrupt intelligence agencies, or even violence from activist groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter.
Contacted Wednesday, Griffin slammed the latest court decision and said he is discussing how to respond with his attorney, Sidney Powell, a former Trump advisor.
“It’s a tough decision and an unfair decision because all I’ve tried doing is supporting Trump and standing up for our freedoms,” Griffin said in a text message.
The secretary of state’s office prevailed in a June 2020 arbitration decision that ordered Cowboys for Trump to register, file expenditure and contribution reports and pay a fine of $7,800.
Griffin forged a group of rodeo acquaintances in 2019 into the promotional group called Cowboys for Trump that staged horseback parades to spread President Donald Trump’s conservative message about gun rights, enforcement of immigration policies and a repeal of controversial abortion laws.
Separately, Griffin is confronting misdemeanor criminal charges in the Jan. 6. uprising at the U.S. Capitol, where he appeared on an outdoor terrace and tried to lead the crowd in prayer.
Griffin denied allegations that he knowingly entered barricaded areas of the Capitol grounds with the intent of disrupting government as Congress considered the 2020 Electoral College results, although he has been an outspoken skeptic of the disputed election result.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press