Cawthorn Court Battle Lives On Even After His Candidacy Crashes

A federal appeals court rejected a lower court’s finding that a Civil War-era law protects Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R) and other politicians accused of insurrection, but deliberately kept alive the question of whether the 14th Amendment bars anyone who commits insurrection from seeking public office.

Still, the Fourth Circuit didn’t give North Carolina the right to keep politicians accused of insurrection from seeking federal office and likely never will, attorneys and Constitutional scholars said. That issue rests exclusively with Congress, they said, and this week’s ruling won’t change that.

“There’s certainly a strong pragmatic argument that in extreme cases (such ...