The case is an important early test for those seeking to impose consequences on members of Congress who embraced false claims about the 2020 election results.
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 case is an important early test for those seeking to impose consequences on members of Congress who embraced former President Donald Trump’s false claims about the results of the 2020 election. Those claims helped fuel unrest that led to the attack on the Capitol last year, leaving scores of police officers injured and disrupting the transition of power from Trump to President Joe Biden.