Organization Challenges Rep. Cawthorn’s Candidacy Using Constitutional Amendment Written to Keep Confederates Out of Congress

Rep Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC held at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on July 9, 2021. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

A non-profit organization is using a post-Civil War constitutional amendment to delegitimize Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s (R-N.C.) candidacy for office in the upcoming primaries based on allegations of his involvement in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach.

Free Speech For People (FSFP) represents several North Carolina voters invoking section three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution called the disqualification clause that states no person who has engaged in an “insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S. government can be a representative in Congress.