A Congresswoman from Georgia has filed a bill that would award Kyle Rittenhouse with a Congressional Gold Medal.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced legislation to present Rittenhouse with the medal following his acquittal just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Rittenhouse, who is now 18 years old, was charged with shooting three men in Kenosha, Wisconsin during the protests in the summer of 2020. Two of the men died. Following a lengthy trial, a jury acquitted Rittenhouse on all charges after his defense team argued he acted in self-defense.
The bill was filed by Greene last week and states that Rittenhouse is worthy of the medal because he “protected the communities of Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a Black Lives Matter riot on August 25, 2020.” The full text of the legislation is not yet avaialble for public review.
In order to be approved, two thirds of the members in both the House and the Senate would need to sign off on the measure and it would then need President Biden’s signature – an unlikely feat at this point.
Other recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal in years past include the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Robert Frost, Walt Disney, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Jackie Robinson, Jack Nicklaus, and a host of others.
