Lawsuits aim to ban Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar and Mark Finchem from holding office

A group seeking to bar those it blames for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol from seeking further office helped file lawsuits Thursday against U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, as well as state Rep. Mark Finchem.

It is part of a similar — and so far unsuccessful — effort in other states against U.S. Reps. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

The challenges against the Arizona Republicans are rooted in a provision of the 14th Amendment adopted after the Civil War that disqualifies from Congress those who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" or aided those who did. Finchem, R-Oro Valley, should be disqualified in his bid for Arizona secretary of state because he already broke his oath to the U.S. Constitution as a state lawmaker, the group argues in its case against him.

The lawsuits were filed by a handful of Arizona voters working with the group Free Speech for People in Maricopa County Superior Court and are being fast-tracked for consideration.

Ron Fein, the legal director for the group, said his organization is nonpartisan and includes legal input from Republicans who share their view of the matter.

The insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment hasn't been invoked in about 150 years because it wasn't needed, but it was applied in the post-Civil War period numerous times, Fein said.

"When the Republican Congress that drafted the 14th Amendment included this provision in the Constitution, they understood that it was meant to apply to the leadership of the Confederate insurrection," he said. "They were far more concerned about the political leaders than with the privates who had been conscripted into the Confederate army."

Rory McShane, a Gosar campaign consultant, said the case is absurd.

“This is a frivolous suit. It’s been dismissed everywhere they tried it because it is factually and legally baseless," McShane said. "The lawyers behind it should be disbarred for abusing the courts.”

Neither Biggs nor Finchem could be immediately reached for comment.

In a tweet Thursday referencing the lawsuits, Finchem wrote, "I am in good company. And this is desperate."

Each case includes challenges from would-be constituents and lays out the arguments against each man.

Gosar, for example, is faulted for his pre-attack participation in a rally near the White House and "publicly supported the insurrection as it was happening" on his social media channels, the 36-page suit claims. It notes the allegation that he sought blanket pardons for people involved in the rally for unrelated criminal probes.

The group called Gosar a leader of the movement promoting the false claims of a stolen election, and said he worked with "violent extremists, on a plan to delegitimize, challenge, and ultimately overturn the results of the presidential election."

Ali Alexander, the organizer of the "Stop the Steal" effort that was in Washington on Jan. 6 called Gosar the "spirit animal" of the effort in a since-deleted video posted before the riot.

In the Biggs case, the group notes that he worked with Gosar to further the same plans to prevent Biden from taking office.

In the Finchem case, the group notes his presence at the Capitol as the pro-Trump mob rioted inside.

"Finchem — who later denied or obfuscated his actions of January 6 — advanced with the crowd near to the steps of the Capitol as it was being overrun, took a picture outside the Capitol among the violent mob just moments after the Capitol was breached, and Tweeted his support while the insurrection was ongoing," the suit notes.

Cawthorn got the case against him dismissed by turning to a federal judge who ruled that an 1872 amnesty law for confederates passed by Congress would apply to Cawthorn and others, too. Fein said his group is appealing that decision.

The same lawyer Cawthorn used, James Bopp, is scheduled to argue Friday for a restraining order preventing Georgia authorities from striking Greene from the ballot in that state.

Reach the reporter Ronald J. Hansen at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493. Follow him on Twitter @ronaldjhansen.

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