A petition filed Friday by two progressive advocacy groups could keep three Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives — Reps. Lauren Boebert (CO), Paul Gosar (AZ), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) from being seated when the new Congress convenes in January due to their vocal support for the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.
Free Speech for People and MoveOn filed the petition, which cites the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. That amendment bars anyone from Congress who has sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the nation but then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”
As of Saturday morning, over 68,000 people have signed the petition, which states, Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) “are ineligible to hold future public office, having voiced support for and helped facilitate the deadly insurrection on our nation’s Capitol on January 6th, 2021.”
The petition continues:
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 insurrection “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 D.C. laws banning open carry. In addition, two January 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.
The petition follows action taken Friday by more than 40 congressional Democrats who introduced legislation to bar failed former president Donald Trump from holding office again, also citing the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), lead sponsor of the bill that would keep Trump from serving in office again, explained:
“Donald Trump very clearly engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 with the intention of overturning the lawful and fair results of the 2020 election. You don’t get to lead a government you tried to destroy.”
