A judge ruled on Tuesday that Couy Griffin is disqualified and barred from elected office due to his participation in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Griffin, founder of "Cowboys for Trump," was convicted in March of breaching the U.S. Capitol. At the time, he was serving as a county commissioner in New Mexico.
State District Court Judge Francis Mathew said in his ruling that Griffin violated his oath to uphold the Constitution when he engaged in the insurrection.
The ruling was the result of a civil lawsuit brought by three plaintiffs who argued that Griffin should be barred from holding public office because of a clause in the 14th Amendment. According to The Associated Press, the clause says people who engage in an insurrection can be barred from office.
NPR reports that this is the first time someone has been removed from office since the Civil War under that provision.
Griffin was reportedly shocked by the judge's ruling.
"I really did not feel like the state was going to move on me in such a way," he told CNN. "I don't know where I go from here."
