RALEIGH, N.C. — The state of North Carolina should not be able to ban U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn from running for reelection, one of his lawyers argued in federal court Tuesday, citing the First Amendment as well as an 1872 law offering amnesty to Confederate rebels after the Civil War.
The state shouldn’t even be able to start an inquiry into whether Cawthorn is qualified to run, said James Bopp, Cawthorn’s attorney.
Cawthorn’s eligibility has been challenged by a group of voters in his western North Carolina district. They say there’s reason to suspect he may have helped plan the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress — or at least set the stage for the violence that day.
