The US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a lower court judge’s decision and ruled ‘insurrectionist’ members of Congress may be barred from office.
A three-judge panel on the appeals court made the decision in a lawsuit against GOP North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn.
Last week Madison Cawthorn lost a tight primary race in North Carolina after a relentless smear campaign.
But the Democrat-DC Swamp is still trying to destroy him and other ‘America First’ GOP members of Congress through lawfare.
Tuesday’s appeals court ruling legally binds only the states in the 4th circuit: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina – however it could set a precedent for lawsuits against GOP lawmakers in other states.
The Democrats are trying to block Arizona Reps. Gosar and Biggs from running for re-election.
Democrat lawyers are also trying to block Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia from running for office again.
Bloomberg reported:
Candidates who take part in an insurrection may be barred from holding public office under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled, overturning a lower court judge’s decision.
The US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling Tuesday in a challenge to former North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn’s candidacy for the House of Representatives. Cawthorn lost his bid for a second term in the Republican primary race last week.
One is Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who this month was cleared to run for re-election when a state judge concluded voters seeking to keep her off the ballot didn’t prove Greene supported an insurrection. The advocacy group that led the court challenge vowed to appeal in state court.
Circuit Judge Toby Heytens, nominated by President Joe Biden last year, framed the issue as whether legislation from 1872 lifted a “constitutional disqualification for all future rebels or insurrectionists, no matter their conduct.”
“To ask such a question is nearly to answer it,” Heytens wrote in Tuesday’s ruling. The 19th century law shielding candidates from the eligibility bar only applies to acts that occurred before it was enacted, he said.
The opinion from the Richmond, Virginia-based appeals court sends the case back to lower court in Raleigh, North Carolina, to be reconsidered.
Two other judges on the panel wrote concurring opinions: Julius N. Richardson, appointed by Trump, and James Wynn, appointed by Barack Obama.