Rep. Madison Cawthorn heads to a closed intelligence briefing at the U.S. Capitol. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
By Kyle Cheney
02/23/2022 10:31 AM EST
The North Carolina attorney general’s office says a constitutional prohibition on insurrectionists seeking federal office could be applied to GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn if a state board determines he aided or encouraged the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
In a late Monday court filing, state attorneys said a provision of the 14th Amendment — disqualifying insurrectionists from holding federal office — is not a defunct Civil War-era relic meant to apply only to former Confederates but a guard against future acts of insurrection. As a result, Cawthorn, who is fighting a challenge to his eligibility to run, could face that prohibition if the North Carolina State Board of Elections determines he meets the criteria, the state attorneys said.
The state’s filing came in a motion to dismiss Cawthorn’s lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Cawthorn is suing to prevent the board from even considering the challenge to his eligibility to seek a second term in the House.
In his lawsuit, Cawthorn claims the 14th Amendment provision was intended to apply only to former confederates who fought in the Civil War, and he cited a subsequent 1872 “amnesty” law that waived the 14th Amendment prohibition for those confederates as evidence of his claim.
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