Election officials defend right by law to look into challenges to Cawthorn's candidacy - WLOS
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — More challenges to Congressman Madison Cawthorn's candidacy for reelection are rolling in, and the politician is trying to stop them before they're even heard. The North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) says it has a right by law, though, to look into those challenges.
News 13 is breaking down how we got here, what's next and the impact these challenges could have on the nation as a whole.
Just over a dozen challenges filed so far
In early January, a group of North Carolina voters filed a legal challenge against U.S. Representative Madison Cawthorn’s (R-District 11) 2022 candidacy for reelection.
Nonprofit organization Free Speech for People, a "nonpartisan, non-profit legal advocacy organization with constitutional law expertise," which is serving as lead counsel in the matter, announced the challenge was filed before the State Board of Elections. The challenge alleges that Cawthorn is constitutionally disqualified from public office under the "Disqualification Clause" in Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, based on reasonable suspicion that he helped facilitate the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
"His role in helping to facilitate the January sixth insurrection triggered an important part of the United States Constitution, that the Republican Party in Congress passed right after the Civil War," said Ron Fein, legal director at Free Speech for People. "It says that anyone who breaks their oath to support the Constitution and then goes on to aid an insurrection, poses a danger to the entire country, and they cannot be trusted with the public office."
This week, two more citizens out of Shelby, North Carolina filed challenges to Rep. Cawthorn's candidacy, bringing the total number to 13. Fein says the two new challenges are from citizens who are part of the group of challengers he's representing; their challenge forms and affidavits just arrived a little later than the others.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn responds with federal lawsuit
In the beginning of February, Rep. Cawthorn filed a federal lawsuit, saying the NC State Board of Elections has no authority to keep him off the ballot in the first place, and so the challenge against him should be dropped.
His lawsuit alleges the candidate challenge statute is unconstitutional because its reasonable standard suspicion is insufficient justification under the First Amendment to trigger a government investigation.
The full complaint and related Preliminary Injunction Memorandum is available on The Bopp Law Firm, PC’s website here.
Rep. Cawthorn has repeatedly denied News 13's requests for interviews regarding challenges to his campaign. He did, however, talk about them in a campaign email this week, where he asks for contributions, saying "Lunatic left-wingers claim I'm an insurrectionist for proudly standing with President Trump and his 74 million patriotic voters."
NC State Board of Elections responds to Rep. Cawthorn's lawsuit
This week, the NCSBE filed a brief opposing Rep. Cawthorn's lawsuit. The board wants to be clear -- it is not taking a stance on whether Rep. Cawthorn should run again. A spokesperson said NCSBE is simply defending the state laws that give it the right to evaluate challenges to candidacies.
Here is the full statement provided by NCSBE spokesperson Patrick Gannon:
"A number of online sources have mischaracterized the State Board’s position with respect to candidate challenges filed against a North Carolina candidate. This has led some members of the public to misunderstand the State Board’s role in the candidate challenge process.
The State Board of Elections is a quasi-judicial administrative body that oversees candidate challenge proceedings every year. When a congressional candidate’s qualifications are challenged, the State Board follows the statutory process to appoint a hearing panel to consider the challenge. With respect to any candidate challenge that is pending, the State Board takes no position on the ultimate outcome of those proceedings. The State Board may ultimately hear any appeal of the decision of the panel hearing the challenge.
For more information on the candidate challenge process, please see the State Board’s Candidate Challenges Procedures Guide.
A federal lawsuit has been filed to try to invalidate the North Carolina laws that establish the candidate challenge process. The State Board of Elections is defending the validity of those state laws, as it does routinely when similar lawsuits are filed. The Board has taken no action with respect to any candidate challenges filed in 2022, as there is a court order in place suspending such proceedings until congressional and legislative districts are finalized and approved by the courts."
Historical context and perspective
Chris Cooper, Madison Distinguished professor of Political Science & Public Affairs and director of the Public Policy Institute at Western Carolina University, said all these challenges are "beyond unusual" and could have impacts well outside Western North Carolina. He said the 14th Amendment hasn't been invoked like this in a very long time.
"We haven't seen challenges like this since the last 100 years," Cooper said. "We're talking about something that was put in to keep confederates out of the federal government, and we're having that conversation again."
He added this could affect former President Donald Trump, should he choose to run for president again. Ron Fein with Free Speech for People says if Trump chooses to run again, they will file a challenge to his candidacy, too, under the 14th Amendment, due to his alleged role in the Jan. 6 riot. Cooper said other politicians could face similar challenges as well.
"I see two potential ways this could affect former President Trump," Cooper said. "One is if Madison Cawthorn is compelled to speak on the record about January 6th, obviously anything he says could be used against Trump, and then I think if this is successful, we should expect to see very similar challenges, probably in Georgia with Marjorie Taylor Greene, perhaps in Colorado with Lauren Boebert, and certainly with President Trump."
What's next?
Under state law, the challenges to Rep. Cawthorn's candidacy will first be heard by a multi-county panel, which will be appointed by the NCSBE. After the hearing, the panel will issue written findings of fact and conclusions of law. Its decision can be appealed by either side to the State Board, and the State Board’s decision can be appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
However, by court order, those challenges cannot be heard by a panel until new congressional and legislative district maps are redrawn. The state's high court ruled the previous maps were unconstitutionally gerrymandered. The court issued a 5 p.m. Feb. 18 deadline for lawmakers to submit redrawn district maps, leaving the trial court until noon to Feb. 23 to vote on those new maps.
That doesn't leave a lot of time for the candidacy challenge process to play out before Congressional primaries in May.
"This is all going to come fast and furious," said WCU professor Cooper. "This is all on a very tight timeline and there's a lot that has to happen: new maps drawn, new maps approved, people deciding which district to run in and then of course these challenges as well."
source: https://wlos.com/news/local/madison-cawthorn-lawsuit-challenge-north-carolina-state-board-of-elections-defends-right-by-law-to-look-into-candidacy-free-speech-for-people
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