(Headline USA) The sister of extreme leftist NPR shill Nina Totenberg has refused to recuse herself from a lawfare attack on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., despite clear-cut conflicts of interest.
In several recent stories, Totenberg called upon Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from cases involving Jan. 6 on the basis that his wife had attended the Trump rally that preceded the protest at the US Capitol and had backed discussions of waging a constitutional challenge to the election outcome.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg, an Obama appointee, has been engaging in her own activism from the bench, allowing a bogus activist lawsuit to proceed, despite past court rulings that established its claims as void under the law.
The attack, masterminded by Steele Dossier architect Marc Elias, has tried to use an archaic section of the 14th Amendment to claim that Greene and several other prominent, pro-Trump Republicans, effectively seceded from the US and should be disqualified.
In an earlier attempt to press the case against Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-NC, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Myers II tossed the suit, noting that even if the duly elected lawmakers had rebelled against the country, an 1872 Amnesty Act passed by Congress had dismantled the post-Civil War “insurrection” clause.
With Totenberg’s verdict a foregone conclusion, the case now may eventually go before the Supreme Court, but with the timing of it potentially impacting the primary races already underway.
Greene, who is expected to appear at a hearing Friday in Atlanta, has repeatedly denied aiding or engaging in an insurrection and has filed a lawsuit alleging that the law the voters are using to challenge her eligibility is itself unconstitutional.
She is set to appear on the Republican ballot for Georgia’s May 24 primary and has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
In a statement Thursday, Trump blamed Georgia’s RINO Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for allowing the challenge to proceed, saying she is “going through hell in their attempt to unseat her.”
Georgia law says any voter who’s eligible to vote for a candidate can challenge that candidate’s qualifications by filing a written complaint with the secretary of state within two weeks after the deadline for qualifying. The secretary of state then has to request a hearing before an administrative law judge. That hearing is scheduled for Friday.
After the hearing, the administrative law judge is to present his findings to Raffensperger, who then must determine whether Greene is qualified.
Raffensperger and Kemp both attracted Trump’s wrath shortly after the 2020 election when they refused to take steps to overturn Trump’s narrow loss in the state. They’re both now facing primary challenges from Trump-endorsed candidates.
The 14th Amendment says no one can serve in Congress “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress . . . to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.” Ratified shortly after the Civil War, it aimed to keep representatives who had fought for the Confederacy from returning to Congress.
In their complaint, the voters cited tweets and statements Greene made before, during and after the riot. The complaint claimed Greene helped plan the riot and/or the demonstration and march on the Capitol that preceded it, knowing that it was “substantially likely to lead to the attack, and otherwise voluntarily aided the insurrection.”
Greene’s federal lawsuit earlier this month asked a judge to declare the law allowing voters to challenge a candidate’s qualifications unconstitutional and to prohibit state officials from enforcing it.
The case went to Totenberg, who declined a request from Greene to halt the challenge process while the lawsuit plays out. Greene is appealing that ruling.
The activists who lost the lawsuit against Cawthorn also plan to appeal. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the litigation early next month, two weeks before Cawthorn’s primary election.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
