The effort by Democrats and top operative Marc Elias to paint North Carolina Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn as an "insurrectionist" and disqualify him from running for re-election in the 2022 midterms was shot down by a federal judge on March 4.
Richard Myers, a Trump-appointed federal judge in the eastern district of North Carolina, approved Cawthorn’s request for a preliminary injunction to the challenge to his re-election bid.
Elias had boasted in a Dec. 21, 2021 tweet: "My prediction for 2022: Before the midterm election we will have a serious discussion about whether individual Republican House Members are disqualified by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment from serving in Congress. We may even see litigation."
The 14th Amendment states in part that no person “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”
On Jan. 6, 2021, Cawthorn said: “The Democrats, with all the fraud they have done in this election, the Republicans hiding and not fighting, they are trying to silence your voice. Make no mistake about it, they do not want you to be heard.”
If the ruling by Judge Myers stands, Cawthorn will face seven other Republicans running in the May 17 GOP primary for North Carolina's 11th District nomination. Six Democrats also filed to run.
“Western North Carolinians want a fighter in Congress. With their support, I look forward to returning to Washington as a sophomore member and helping enact major change with a historic Republican majority,” Cawthorn said.
HUGE VICTORY!
The left’s lawfare tactics have failed. On to re-election! https://t.co/LqzyMoNOC2 — Madison Cawthorn (@CawthornforNC) March 4, 2022
