Appeals Court: Cowboys for Trump A Political Committee

Above, the Cowboy for Trump in Grants, New Mexico in November 2019. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The 10th District U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against the Cowboys for Trump group and upheld a lower court ruling that it was a political organization and should have registered.

I attended one Cowboys for Trump event in Grants, New Mexico, which was a caravan of horseback riders and assorted vehicles through town.

According to KRQE:

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A federal appeals court has turned away a constitutional challenge by the support group Cowboys for Trump and co-founder Couy Griffin to New Mexico election laws and registration requirements for political groups.

In a written order obtained Wednesday, the Denver-based U.S. 10th District Court of Appeals declined to reverse a lower court ruling that upheld state registration requirements for Cowboys for Trump as a political organization.

Griffin, a Republican county commissioner from Tularosa in southern New Mexico, sued New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver in 2020 in response to mounting pressure on Cowboys for Trump to register as a political committee in New Mexico, and Griffin’s concerns that might lead to other disclosure requirements about contributions and spending.

Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich of the 10th Circuit cited several shortcomings in Griffin’s legal appeal, while declining to reverse the lower court’s dismissal.

If anything, the Cowboys for Trump should have registered as a political organization just to avoid wasting time and resources fighting the Secretary of State. It would be worth registering just to keep her off their backs, in my view.

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