Cawthorn Loses Round In Battle To Stay On NC Ballot

Politico reports:

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.

In his lawsuit, Cawthorn claims the 14th Amendment provision was intended to apply only to former confederates who fought in the Civil War, and he cited a subsequent 1872 “amnesty” law that waived the 14th Amendment prohibition for those confederates as evidence of his claim.

But the state AG’s office, led by Democratic AG Josh Stein, disagreed with Cawthorn’s interpretation, citing comments from legislators who helped pass the 1872 law and noting that Congress itself had applied the prohibition in 1919 against a man named Victor Berger, who was barred from office for violating the Espionage Act during World War I.

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