(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., has filed a lawsuit against the members of the North Carolina State Board of Elections over what he claims is the unconstitutional attempt to disqualify him for reelection.
The suit is in response to a group of radical leftists who are trying to disqualify Republican congressional candidates from running for office because of their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, protests. Cawthorn was targeted as the group’s first prey, and he has said that he welcomes the fight.
“I’m glad they came for me first, because it’s time to play for keeps and not pull any punches,” Cawthorn said during an exclusive interview with Headline USA.
“I wasn’t surprised, unfortunately, by their attack on freedom,” he said. “It’s a reminder of how Machiavellian, evil and aggressive the woke mob is.”
Radical leftists, under the tacit direction of lawfare louse Marc Elias, contend that Republican House members are disqualified by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment from serving in Congress, because anyone who doubted the results of Joe Biden’s 2020 election must be an “insurrectionist.”
Cawthorn “vigorously denies that he ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion’ against the United States,” and the seeks to enjoin the state elections board “from employing unconstitutional provisions of North Carolina election law to remove him from the ballot as a candidate,” according to a press release from Cawthorn’s office.
Under North Carolina law, a person or group can “challenge someone’s qualifications to run for office based only on a reasonable suspicion or belief that the facts stated disqualify the candidate from running for office,” Cawthorn’s release states.
The candidate, in turn, bears the burden of proof to show that he is qualified to run for office. This burden-shifting, Cawthorn contends, turns the legal system on its head, requiring someone prove his “innocence” when challenged.
“North Carolina’s law is unjust and unconstitutional as applied to Rep. Cawthorn,” said James Bopp, Jr., of The Bopp Law Firm, lead counsel for Cawthorn.
“The Challenge Statute violates fundamental principles of rights to free speech, due process, and federal law,” he said.
“Requiring someone to prove he didn’t do something based upon the barest of “suspicions” is patently unfair and unconstitutional.”
Cawthorn denied any part of any alleged insurrection, and said he would fight attempts by radical Democrats and their legal cabals to take away the people’s right to choose their representatives.
“Running for office is not only a great privilege, it is a right protected under the Constitution,” said Cawthorn. “I love this country and have never engaged in, or would ever engage in, an insurrection against the United States.”
He said the challenge against his candidacy 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,” Cawthorn said.
