Opponents ask N.C. judge to uphold effort to bar Rep. Madison Cawthorn from re-election

Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Elections officials and several North Carolina voters asked a federal judge this week to allow a punitive proposal -- which would bar controversial Rep. Madison Cawthorn from seeking office again -- to move forward.

A number of voters filed the challenge last month, arguing that Cawthorn should be disqualified from re-election for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.

According to the challenge, Cawthorn's actions and words at a rally immediately before the attack for then-President Donald Trump aided the Capitol attack. Under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, office-holders who actively participate in an insurrection are barred from holding office.

Cawthorn has asked the court to dismiss the challenge -- and on Monday, attorneys for the voters and the state's Board of Elections asked the judge to reject the freshman House representative's motion.

President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021. Cawthorn was a speaker at the spirited event. File Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI

The elections board said that it has the power to investigate and remove Cawthorn from ballots in North Carolina, if it decides to. It also said that Cawthorn's lawsuit was premature when he filed it because the board hadn't made a decision on the matter.

The group of voters argue in the legal challenge that Cawthorn called for violence in the days before the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol.

Two days before the attack, Cawthorn said in a tweet that Jan. 6 is fast approaching and that the "future of this Republic hinges on the actions of a solitary few."

"Get ready, the fate of a nation rests on our shoulders, yours and mine," he wrote. "Let's show Washington that our backbones are made of steel and titanium. It's time to fight."

Later, Cawthorn called his congressional colleagues "cowards" in a pro-Trump "Save America" rally near the White House immediately before the attack.

Elections officials told The News & Observer on Tuesday that Cawthorn faces 13 different complaints connected with the Constitution's "disqualification clause" under the 14th Amendment.