A week after U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn lost his primary election, a federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a trial judge's decision that had blocked North Carolina's elections board from examining whether he should be disqualified from running for reelection.
A panel of judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling from District Judge Richard Myers, who had determined that a section of the 14th Amendment addressing insurrection and serving in Congress didn't apply to Cawthorn. Voters who filed a formal challenge to Cawthorn's candidacy pointed to how the first-term Republican spoke at the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Cawthorn denies participating in an insurrection.
