Judge dismisses cases against Arizona lawmakers Biggs, Gosar and Finchem
A judge will not bar three Arizona officials who allegedly were involved in some way in the Jan. 6 riot from running again for office.
In a 19-page ruling released Friday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury said private individuals have no legal right to enforce a provision of the U.S. Constitution that bars those who have engaged in "insurrection'' from holding public office. He said only Congress can create such a law.
Coury also rejected a claim by Free Speech for People, which brought the lawsuits, that state election laws give them the right to challenge whether Rep. Mark Finchem is qualified to run for secretary of state and whether Congressmen Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs are legally entitled to seek another term in the U.S. House. He said those laws are designed solely to determine if candidates meet the what is required under state law.
Finally, the judge said that the challengers waited too long to bring their claims.
He pointed out that all three have been elected officials now for years. Coury said challengers cannot come in now, shortly before the election, and seek to start presenting factual evidence of what was the role of all three in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Coury was careful to say that he is not reaching any legal conclusions about the legality of what any of the candidates did either leading up to or on Jan. 6. Nor is he saying that they cannot be brought to justice.
"Indeed, there may be a different time and type of case in which the candidates' involvement in the events of that day appropriately can and will be adjudicated in court,'' the judge wrote. But he said this lawsuit, using state election laws designed to deal with candidate qualifications, is not that case.
"And, irrespective of this decision, there ultimately will be a different trial for each candidate: one decided by Arizona voters who will have the final voice about whether each candidate should, or should not, serve in elective office.''\
