(John Ransom, Headline USA) A Maricopa County judge dismissed the lawsuit by progressive activists that alleged three GOP candidates in Arizona violated the 14th Amendment and therefore are disqualified from the ballot.
The complaint by the ironically named group Free Speech for the People, attempted to remove Arizona Republican Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs from the 2022 election ballot along with GOP state Rep. Mark Finchem, alleging the three had engaged in “insurrection and rebellion” and “gave aid and comfort” to the country’s enemies, said the local NBC affiliate 12 News.
Superior Court Judge Christopher A. Coury said that barring a criminal conviction, the 14th Amendment could not disqualify the defendants in the lawsuit, because the amendment to the Constitution did not set for a mechanism of action, noting that Congress itself, refused to pass such a law, according to the Kingman Miner.
Arizona Judge Dismisses Lawsuits Aimed at Disqualifying Reps. Gosar, Biggs https://t.co/xpPzknaeoM via @epochtimes
— Ellie Smith (@EllieLuckyday) April 24, 2022
Coury also noted that the US Congress is the sole arbiter of Congressional qualifications, which at the very least, would apply to both Gosar and Biggs.
“The text of the Constitution is mandatory,” Coury wrote, according to the Associated Press. “It sets forth the single arbiter of the qualifications of members of Congress; that single arbiter is Congress”
Unlike two recent decisions, this time the suit was decided by an elected county court judge.
Previously, a federal judge appointed by Barack Obama allowed a similar suit in Georgia to go forward attempting to bar Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) from the ballot, while a Trump-appointed federal judge in North Carolina dismissed such a suit against Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.).
Judge Coury won reelection in 2020 to the Maricopa County Superior Court, with his term ending in 2025, according to Ballotpedia.
Coury has served on the court since 2010.
Underneath the several lawsuits looms the specter of President Donald Trump, who is the real target of the progressive activists who have filed these ballot lawsuits.
If successful, the lawsuits would go a long way towards removing Trump from the election ballot for 2024.
Democrats fear that the only way that they can prevent a second Trump term is the same way that they tried to stop the first Trump term: by legal action.
The lawsuits show that progressives are apparently frightened they won’t be able to beat Trump in 2024 using free and fair elections.
