An 1872 law granting amnesty to former Confederate traitors cannot be applied to supporters of the 6 January 2021 insurrection seeking to escape challenges to their eligibility to appear on the ballot, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has said.
The Richmond, Virginia-based court rejected a North Carolina district judge’s decision to block a challenge to Representative Madison Cawthorn’s eligibility by a group of voters who argued that he was ineligible to appear on a North Carolina ballot because he had “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution of the United States by supporting former president Donald Trump’s push to throw out results of the 2020 election and install himself for a second term against the wishes of American voters.
