Courtroom not the place to decide Marjorie Taylor Greene’s political future

I think Marjorie Taylor Greene is a joke. An unfunny joke. She has accomplished nothing in her one term in Congress except to be denied assignment to any Congressional committee where the real work is done. That means she has no influence in what passes or doesn’t pass in Congress and is relegated to making outlandish statements. Even before she was elected, Greene had endorsed posts calling for the execution of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She also liked Facebook comments about executing law enforcement agents who are in the “deep state,” (not to be confused with the Gazpacho police.) And who can forget her concerns about the California wildfires having been started by a laser beam in space controlled by the Rothschilds, a prominent Jewish banking company. There are more examples, of course, but I think you get the idea. She has made buffoonery an art form. Now, Marjorie Taylor Greene is making headlines of a different kind. Five of Greene’s constituents represented by a group called Free Speech for People are seeking to disqualify her from appearing on the ballot in next month’s primary. They contend she violated the U.S. Constitution by engaging in an insurrection with her alleged support for the January 6 Capitol riots. The case centers on a provision of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution – known as the disqualification clause – which bars any person from holding federal office who has previously taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and then has “engaged in insurrection” against the United States. Administrative Law Judge Charles Beaudrot has heard from both sides on the matter and says he will finalize his recommendation shortly. That recommendation will then go to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who will decide if Greene remains on the ballot for the May 24 primary. Greene’s attorney James Bopp said, “The right to vote is at stake, right here, right now. Because they (meaning the plaintiffs) want to deny the right to vote to the thousands of people in the 14th District of Georgia by having Greene removed from the ballot.” You may want to sit down lest you fall over in a faint at what I am about to say: Despite my oft-stated antipathy for Greene and her motor mouth, I agree with Mr. Bopp. It is not the court’s business whether Marjorie Taylor Greene is or is not on the ballot in May. She was duly elected by the voters of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. It is their right to return her to office or to kick her out if they so choose. Assuming she survives the current court challenge, a group of six candidates are lined up to face off against Greene in the May 24 Republican primary while three Democrats battle it out in their primary for a chance to be on the ballot in November’s general election. Defeating her will be a tall order. Greene has over $3 million in her war chest, and the reelection rate for incumbent U.S. House members is roughly 95 percent.

But however things turn out, there is no question that Marjorie Taylor Greene is the gift that keeps on giving. You may have read about the text she sent to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows in the days following the Washington riots suggesting that his boss might want to declare “Marshall law.”

I’m not sure if she was referring to the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall or former Secretary of State Gen. George C. Marshall or Cuddles Marshall, the hard-throwing righthander for the old St. Louis Browns. I doubt Meadows knew, either. I suspect he was more worried about what the Gazpacho police might do.

Greene told the media that she didn’t “recall those being my text messages.” I don’t blame her. I would try and forget that, too.

Now we await the recommendations of Judge Beaudrot and the final decision of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s political fate. I am going to assume that he will allow her on the ballot. Invoking the 14th Amendment is a stretch. Besides, I find it ironic that a group calling itself Free Speech for People is trying to stifle her free speech, as onerous as it is.

Marjorie Taylor Greene may be a joke to some – or to many – but voters in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District sent her to Washington to be their elected representative. They very well could do it again. And that’s no joke.

You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ dickyarb.