The Constitution Makes It Clear:
Insurrectionists are BARRED from Holding Office
Alexandra Flores-Quilty / MoveOn.org
TO: US House of Representatives
(December 16, 2022) — The evidence is irrefutable. Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, having voiced support for and helped facilitate the deadly insurrection on our nation’s Capitol on January 6th, 2021, are ineligible to hold future public office.
When the new Congress convenes, a Member-elect of the House may challenge, under House procedures authorized by the Constitution, the qualifications of another Member-elect. We must urge them to do so.
Sign today to tell your representative they MUST challenge the eligibility of Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene when the new Congress convenes on account of their roles in planning, facilitating, and supporting the deadly January 6th insurrection.
Why Is This Important?
The coordinated and violent attack on the United States Capitol in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the presidential vote on January 6, 2021 was an insurrection against the United States.
Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment makes clear that anyone who has previously sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution, and then engages in “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States (or provides “aid or comfort” to its enemies) is permanently disqualified from holding future public office.
Publicly available evidence establishes that Rep. Paul Gosar helped facilitate the insurrection, before, during, and after January 6, 2021.
Not only was he among a handful of Congress members who expressed vocal support for the insurrection as it was happening but, according to news reports, Gosar went so far as to offer organizers of the pre-attack demonstration a “blanket pardon” in connection with unrelated criminal investigations, encouraging what would no doubt be an illegal act of violence.
In the weeks leading up to January 6, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly stated that violence might be necessary to keep Trump in power, exhorted her followers not to allow Congress to transfer power peacefully, and, the night before the attack, called the date “our 1776 moment” (a codeword used by violent extremists to refer to an attack on government buildings).
Greene has since attempted to defend the violence on January 6 as justified by the Declaration of Independence, calling convicted participants in the insurrections “political prisoners of war.” In December 2022, she bragged that “if” she had organized the attack, “we would have won. Not to mention, it would’ve been armed.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert echoed Greene’s coded sentiments during the insurrection, tweeting “Today is 1776.” She was billed as a speaker for the pre-attack Capitol protest, though she did not speak.
Three days prior to the insurrection, Boebert released an ad featuring herself walking through federal buildings while brandishing a firearm, pledging to carry a handgun in the Capitol despite DC laws banning open carry.
In addition, two Jan. 6th organizers told Rolling Stone of “dozens” of planning meetings with Boebert and several other Congress members in the days leading up to the insurrection.
Free Speech For People has spearheaded the nationwide legal effort to hold insurrectionists accountable for their role in the violent assault on American democracy that took place on January 6th, 2021.
Yet, despite a wealth of evidence indicting Gosar, Boebert and Greene for insurrectionist activity, Secretaries of State and chief election officials have thus far failed to follow the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The task has now fallen to American voters to urge our Representatives to do their duty and challenge the qualifications of Gosar, Greene, and Boebert under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
