By Robert Anglen | Arizona Republic
The Arizona Supreme Court will not remove U.S. Reps Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar and state Rep. Mark Finchem from 2022 ballots.
The court on Monday rejected arguments from a voting rights group that contended the Republican lawmakers were ineligible for reelection because of their participation in rallies before the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Justices upheld a lower court decision, which found only Congress has the authority to disqualify elected officials who allegedly “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or aided those who did from holding office.
The so-called disqualification clause tied to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution does not allow a private citizen to sue to prevent a candidate from running for office, justices said in a four-page decision.
“This is the end of the road for the plaintiffs’ case. The decision rests on Arizona law, so they cannot ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate their claims — and in any event, ballots will be printed tonight, so the issues are almost moot,” said Kory Langhofer, who represents Biggs.
“The only remaining question is whether the defendants will pursue claims against the plaintiffs for misusing the court system as a stage for political theater rather than a forum for resolving earnest disagreements of law and fact,” he said.
Free Speech for the People, which sought to use a 19th-century law adopted after the Civil War to prevent the lawmakers from holding office, said the court’s rationale was based on an “absurd distinction.”
“The Arizona Supreme Court’s decision betrays the fundamental purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause and gives a pass to political violence as a tool for disrupting and overturning free and fair elections,” the group said in a statement.
The group, representing a handful of Arizona voters, said the lower court dismissed its complaints without hearing any evidence to support the claims of insurrection.
