A legal challenge to Marjorie Taylor Greene's candidacy can move forward. Now what?


A federal judge ruled Monday evening that a constitutional challenge to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) re-election bid could move forward, after having signaled some sympathy toward the advocacy groups who brought the case, The Associated Press reports.
The groups' challenge, filed last month with the Georgia secretary of state's office, claims that Greene was involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and is therefore ineligible to run for re-election under the 14th Amendment of the Consitution. The 14th Amendment was ratified shortly after the Civil War, and bars lawmakers who supported or engaged in an insurrection from serving again.
But now that District Judge Amy Totenberg has permitted the challenge, what happens next?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Well, first, "a scheduled hearing in front of a Georgia state judge will take place as planned on Friday morning," CNN writes. That state judge will hear from both sides of the case and decide whether or not the 14th Amendment applies to Greene. If the judge rules in favor of the activists and advocacy groups and against Greene, the firebrand representative can then file appeals "and the matter may not be resolved before ballots are printed for the May 25 primary election," per CNN.
Outside of the individual case, however, Totenberg's ruling "could reverberate beyond" our Georgia lawmaker in question, considering "similar constitutional challenges are pending against other Republican officials and could even be lodged against former President Donald Trump if he runs again in 2024," CNN reports.
Greene has denied participating in or engaging with the Capitol riot.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive order
speed read The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts
-
'Haiti's crisis is a complex problem that defies solution'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Hamas frees US hostage in deal sidelining Israel
speed read Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old soldier, was the final living US citizen held by the militant group
-
Hamas frees US hostage in deal sidelining Israel
speed read Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old soldier, was the final living US citizen held by the militant group
-
White Afrikaners land in US as Trump-declared refugees
speed read An exception was made to Trump's near-total ban on admitting refugees for the white South Africans
-
Qatar luxury jet gift clouds Trump trip to Mideast
speed read Qatar is said to be presenting Trump with a $400 million plane, which would be among the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the US government
-
Trump taps Fox News' Pirro for DC attorney post
speed read The president has named Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be the top federal prosecutor for Washington, replacing acting US Attorney Ed Martin
-
Trump, UK's Starmer outline first post-tariff deal
speed read President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Kier Starmer struck a 'historic' agreement to eliminate some of the former's imposed tariffs
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members