Arizona Supreme Court gives elected insurrectionists a free pass

It almost seems quaint, now, how some of us actually believed that the people we elected to public office, and who swore an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” actually meant it.

Even worse, the depth our naivete seems positively childlike, if not – How can I put this gently? – stupid, to have believed for one second that those same elected officials would be held answerable to that promise.

And that breaking it would have consequences.

Penalties.

Punishment.

HA!

Court gave 'aid and comfort' to politicians

I could practically hear members of Gov. Doug Ducey’s stacked Arizona Supreme Court giggling at the notion that they would call to account U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, as well as state Rep. Mark Finchem for the aid and comfort they provided to the insurrectionists of Jan. 6.

The voting rights group Free Speech for the People filed suit in Arizona trying to keep Biggs, Gosar and Finchem off the ballot for violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

It is commonly known as the disqualification clause.

It is simple to read and to understand, even for a bunch of judges.

It says:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

A slam dunk case, never heard

Given their embrace of the Big Lie about election fraud, and their attempts to negate a duly certified election, and more, is seems like the case against the three Arizona politicians might have been a slam dunk. And, who knows, the judges on the Arizona Supreme Court might even have agreed with that.

Perhaps that is why the court wouldn’t even allow any evidence against Biggs, Gosar and Finchem to be heard.

Instead, the court ruled that only Congress has the authority to disqualify elected officials based on having violated the 14th Amendment.

Roughly 725 private citizens have been arrested in conjunction with storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. There have been many, many indictments and convictions. And a number of those individuals were sentenced to jail.

Too bad the poor saps didn’t get themselves elected first.

Near as I can tell, none of the politicians who stirred the pot that boiled over on Jan. 6 has suffered any consequences.

And it wasn’t like anyone was trying to toss Biggs, Gosar and Finchem into the slammer – appealing as that thought might be to some people.

The ones who least deserve a free pass

The lawsuit filed to keep them off the ballot simply wanted them disqualified from running for office for having “given aid or comfort,” as the 14th Amendment reads.

In a statement following the Arizona court’s decision Free Speech for the People said in part, “The Arizona Supreme Court’s decision betrays the fundamental purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause and gives a pass to political violence as a tool for disrupting and overturning free and fair elections.”

Not for everyone, of course. Some of the violent protestors from Jan. 6 are paying a price with fines, jail time and criminal records.

The Arizona court offered its kindly largesse only to Arizona’s elected officials, individuals who swore an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”

In other words, the last people who deserve a free pass.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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