RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn lost his reelection bid last week — but that doesn’t necessarily mean a legal battle over his eligibility to serve in Congress is also finished.
On Tuesday, he lost a case in a federal appeals court over whether North Carolina elections officials have the power to ban him from running for office in the future.
Cawthorn had argued they can’t ban him, and he won that argument at trial, with a favorable ruling from a judge who was appointed by Republican President Donald Trump. But now the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned that ruling, potentially paving the way for Cawthorn to be kept off the ballot in the future if he tries to run for office again.
