Looking at the effort to take Marjorie Taylor Greene off the ballot

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA., has been in the news lately as an election and campaign reform group seeks to disqualify her for running for re-election. 

But some claims overstate what’s happening, including a recent Facebook post that says “Democrats begin trial in corrupt move to ban Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress.” 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat potential false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

In March, a group of Georgia voters represented by Free Speech for People, an election and campaign finance reform group, filed a challenge with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office alleging that Greene is ineligible to run for re-election because they said she helped facilitate the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in violation of the 14th Amendment. 

Greene has not been charged with any offense stemming from the Jan. 6 attack. The challenge filed by the voters relies on statements Greene made, such as the day before the Capitol attack, calling for a “1776 moment” — a nod to the American Revolution. 

On April 1, Greene sued to try to stop that challenge, asking a judge to declare that the law the voters are using to challenge her eligibility is unconstitutional, and to prohibit state officials from enforcing it. 

On April 18, Judge Amy Totenberg, who was appointed by then-President Barack Obama, denied Greene’s request, allowing the legal challenge to proceed. And on April 22, Greene testified under oath before an administrative law judge in an Atlanta court as part of that challenge.

But this is not a trial in the sense that Greene is taking the witness stand before a jury of her peers. Under Georgia law, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was required to forward the voters’ challenge to an administrative law judge.

That judge, Charles Beaudrot, held the hearing in the case that Greene testified at on April 22 and after hearing the facts of the case Beaudrot will make a recommendation to Raffensperger about whether Greene should stay on the ballot.

It is Raffensperger, a Republican, who will decide whether Greene is ineligible or not. 

We’ve previously fact-checked and found False a claim by former President Donald Trump that Raffensperger is “perhaps in collusion with the Radical Left Democrats” attempting to “unset” Greene.   

The claim that Democrats have started a trial to ban Greene from Congress is also misleading, confusing the actual legal process of the challenge to the representative’s eligibility and who exactly is involved. The Facebook post refers to the trial as “corrupt,” which could be interpreted to mean the effort is illegal — which it isn’t since the group has a legal right to file a challenge. Even if Raffensperger ultimately decides Greene can remain on the ballot, that wouldn’t be evidence that the effort by the Democrats was corrupt — it would just mean they lost.