‘Cowboys for Trump’ leader turns to Supreme Court after he was kicked out of office for insurrection

Nearly two years ago, an elected official from New Mexico was convicted on charges for his role in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, then removed from office under a constitutional clause banning anyone who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.

The case of Couy Griffin, a now-former Otero County commissioner, is in front of the US Supreme Court, just days after Donald Trump challenged a Colorado court’s decision that disqualified him from 2024 ballots under the same rule.

Justices are scheduled to consider Griffin’s case in a private conference on Friday.

How the justices ultimately decide whether that case moves forward, if at all, could signal their decision in the challenge facing Mr Trump.

Griffin, the founder of the pro-Trump group Cowboys for Trump, was convicted on misdemeanour charges for his role in the Capitol riots on 6 January 2021, when he was captured in video footage calling on then-Vice President Mike Pence to “do the right thing” and reject the 2020 election results that reflected the votes of millions of Americans.

He climbed a toppled fence and another barrier to reach the steps of the Capitol, where he called on the mob to pray.

On 6 September 2022, after a lawsuit and a bench trial in federal court, a judge removed him from office, marking the first time in more than 100 years that a court disqualified a public official and the first time an elected official was removed from office for their role on January 6.

US District Judge Francis Mathew noted the “irony” of Griffin’s attempts to defend his actions and urge the court against “applying the law” despite participating in an “insurrection” with a “mob whose goal, by his own admission, was to set aside the results of a free, fair