Rep. Madison Cawthorn sues NC to stop challenge to candidacy for reelection

(WLOS) — Republican North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn is suing the state of North Carolina.

The lawsuit is an attempt to stop the State Board of Elections from considering removing the U.S. representative's name from the ballot for reelection.

TIGHT TIMELINE FOR CHALLENGE TO CAWTHORN'S ELIGIBILITY TO RUN

In January of this year, a group of voters represented by the nonprofit organization Free Speech for People filed a challenge with the State Board of Elections claiming the Western North Carolina congressman is constitutionally disqualified from public office under a certain clause in the 14th Amendment.

The group claims there is reasonable suspicion that Cawthorn helped facilitate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Below is Rep. Cawthorn's full complaint:

Cawthorn's lawsuit says the Board of Elections has no authority to keep him off the ballot in the first place, and so the challenge against him should be dropped.

CHALLENGE FILED AGAINST CAWTHORN'S CANDIDACY FOR REELECTION UNDER 14TH AMENDMENT CLAUSE

Below is a statement from Ron Fein, legal director with Free Speech for People and co-lead counsel on behalf of the challengers:

It is unfortunate that Madison Cawthorn has decided to run to federal court instead of complying with the process before the State Board of Elections. Cawthorn’s attempt to bypass the state’s well-developed procedures for resolving candidacy challenges is based on misunderstandings of federal and state law. When North Carolina sought to rejoin the Union in 1868, one of the conditions was that the state would enforce the Fourteenth Amendment’s Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause--and that’s exactly what our challenge seeks to do. We intend to move to intervene in this federal court case to oppose Cawthorn’s attempted end-run around the laws that the people of North Carolina enacted for addressing candidacy challenges.

Tuesday afternoon, Congressman Cawthorn's office published a press release on the lawsuit, sayingChallenge Statute:

(1) violates his First Amendment rights by triggering a government investigation based solely upon a Challenger’s “reasonable suspicion”; (2) violates his Due Process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment by shifting the burden of proof onto him to prove he didn’t engage in an “insurrection or rebellion;” (3) is unconstitutional because it overrides the U.S. House of Representative’s exclusive power to determine the qualifications for its Members; and (4) violates federal law because the “disqualification clause,” Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment no longer applies to current Congressional Members, because of the Amnesty Act of 1872.

“Running for office is not only a great privilege, it is a right protected under the Constitution,” Rep. Cawthorn said in Tuesday's release. “I love this country and have never engaged in, or would ever engage in, an insurrection against the United States. Regardless of this fact, 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. I’m defending not only my rights, but the right of the People to democratically elect their representatives.”

The complaint and related Preliminary Injunction Memorandum is available on The Bopp Law Firm, PC’s website here.