WASHINGTON — When U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and two other Republicans decided to ask the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the fines they paid after refusing to wear masks on the House floor, they put the chamber’s new GOP leadership in a tough spot.
And those leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, have chosen to defend the fines even as they say they don’t like the policy put into place by his predecessor. Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, implemented an escalating fine system for mask infractions while the House was in session to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Attorneys for Johnson argue the constitutionality of the fines as part of their response to Greene and her co-defendants, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Ralph Norman of South Carolina. Earlier this month, the trio asked the Supreme Court to review their case after two lower courts upheld the fines.
The House GOP attorneys wrote in their response that the Supreme Court should not get involved and should let the earlier rulings stand, although they also note that Johnson and other House leaders disagreed with Pelosi’s mask policy.
“The rule was controversial, and all members of the current House Leadership voted against it,” the attorneys wrote. " But this case is not about the wisdom of the rule or whether it was based on sound science.”
A federal judge in Washington D.C. district court and later an appeals court ruled the fines should not be reversed because the Constitution protects members of Congress or their staff from being sued for decisions made in their government capacity. Those rulings also noted that generally speaking, the House and Senate are allowed to set rules and policies for members.
Greene and her co-defendants argue that the fines amounted to an illegal reduction in their House salary.
While Massie and Norman protested only briefly, Greene refused to wear a mask on the House floor for most of 2021 and into 2022. She eventually accumulated more than $100,000 in fines which were docked from her annual pay of $174,000.
Greene, who said she declined to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, has downplayed the impact of the pandemic and accused Democratic elected officials of abusing authority during the period of lockdowns and mandates. She currently serves on a House committee reviewing the government response to COVID-19.
The trio’s petition for a Supreme Court review of their case is a long shot. The Supreme Court receives 5,000 to 6,000 petitions for case reviews each term but usually agrees to hear 60 to 70 of them.
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