Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Legal Fight Over Candidacy Dismissed Ahead of Midterms

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) speaks during a press conference on the House Jan. 6 Committee hearings at the U.S. Capitol on June 15, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

A federal appellate court ruled Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), incited by a challenge to her candidacy eligibility, as the dispute was no longer active given her spot on the ballot in the midterm election.

The Republican congresswoman sued Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in April to prevent Georgians from being able to challenge her, as a candidate, eligibility to run for reelection. It was not until Nov. 3 that a three-judge panel dismissed the case as moot in an unsigned opinion (pdf), noting Greene was not disqualified as a candidate and is presently on the ballot for the upcoming election.

“Accordingly, we no longer have the ability to accord Rep. Greene meaningful relief. We therefore hold that this case is moot,” the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals said in the papers.

It came months after a group led by left-wing activists argued in March that Greene helped facilitate the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, in which supporters of then-President Donald Trump delayed the congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election results for several hours.

The group, Free Speech For People, contested Greene’s constitutional right to run for Congress, citing the rarely invoked Disqualification Clause in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Such a provision can be enacted in the wake of the Civil War to keep former Confederates out of Congress.

Greene, who will be on the Nov. 8 election ballot representing Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, argued that the preelection challenge on officeholders was unconstitutional and then appealed a district court’s decision of denial. The congresswoman was ultimately deemed eligible for reelection by Raffensperger in May, as no evidence showed Greene had participated in an insurrection.

The Epoch Times reached out to Greene for comment.

“After oral argument and careful consideration, and because of intervening circumstances, we remand this case to the district court with instructions to dismiss the case as moot,” the Thursday court filing reads.

Greene remains very likely to win over her Democrat challenger Marcus Flowers. Poll aggregator and analytics website FiveThirtyEight offers her a 99 percent chance of victory.

The state has had record turnout since the first day of the early voting period this year, surging to nearly twice the number on the first day in 2018, according to the Secretary of State’s office. The turnout by Oct. 19 surpassed the 2020 presidential election early vote totals.