NC Representative Cawthorn Faces Disqualification
U.S. Congressman-elect Madison Cawthorn speaking with attendees at the 2020 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Source: Gage Skidmore.
North Carolina’s Representative Madison Cawthorn is under scrutiny from the State Board of Elections in response to a group of eleven North Carolinian voters urging the Board to disqualify his candidacy, citing his involvement in the rallies preceding the January 6th Insurrection as a violation of the Constitution. The voters cite the provisions of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars individuals from holding any public office that have given “aid and comfort to enemies” or have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” The voters argue that North Carolina’s Challenge Statute applies to Cawthorn, which states individuals have grounds to challenge an office-seeker’s election bid there is violation of “constitutional or statutory qualifications.”
Cawthorn, who has filed for re-election in NC’s 13th district, has responded with a lawsuit against the State Board of Elections. His legal team argues that the application of the Challenge Statute violates his 1st and 14th Amendment rights, while additionally violating constitutional power which grants the U.S. House of Representatives the ability to determine qualification standards for its Members. Additionally, Cawthorn argues that the Amnesty Act of 1872 — which was used to override Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to allow former-Confederates to serve in office — would still nullify Section 3 today.
The debate is centered around Cawthorn’s inflammatory speech on January 6th, 2021. Cawthorn began his speech by stating, “Wow this crowd has some fight in it,” and proceeded to tell the crowd: “The Democrats, with all the fraud they have done in this election, the Republicans hiding and not fighting, they are trying to silence your voice. Make no mistake about it, they do not want you to be heard.” With each comment, the crowd responded with cheers of agreement. Later in the day this same crowd stormed the Capitol, killed police officers, and rampaged through Members’ offices. Members of Congress were locked inside the House Chambers and told to place gas masks on their faces and then told to evacuate the chambers while being escorted to safety by Capitol Police.
On February 1st, Cawthorn tweeted in response to the ongoing litigation: “The Disqualification clause and North Carolina’s Challenge Statute is being used as a weapon by liberal Democrats to attempt to defeat our democracy by having state bureaucrats, rather than the People, choose who will represent North Carolina in Congress.”
On February 7th, the Board of Elections announced that they plan to proceed with the complaints filed by voters against Cawthorn, and said they are bound to do so by law, and have the authority to act through the Constitution. In court filings, attorneys for the State, argue that Cawthorn’s lawsuit is “dubious” and that “any perceived burden… is outweighed by the interest of the state and its people."
Cawthorn’s counter lawsuit has been assigned to the U.S. District Judge Richard Myers II, who sits upon the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, based in Wilmington, NC. Cawthorn will be represented by James Bopp Jr.