On March 14, the North Carolina Republican Party filed this amicus curiae brief in Cawthorn v Circosta, 22-1251. This is the case over whether Congressman Madison Cawthorn can stop election officials from determining whether he meets the Constitutional qualifications to run for Congress. The
U.S. District Court had ruled in Cawthorn’s favor on the grounds that the Fourteenth Amendment, section three, relating to insurrection, is no longer in effect because Congress in 1872 granted a blanket amnesty that is still in force.
The Republican Party amicus brief takes no position on whether the Fourteenth Amendment, section three, is still in force. Instead it argues that state election officials do not have the power to judge qualifications. The brief is uncompromising on that point, and says, in effect, that states can’t keep people off the ballot for congress, even if they are under-age, or aren’t citizens. Instead, if someone who doesn’t meet the qualifications is elected, then Congress will likely refuse to seat that person.
Additional reason to have candidates / incumbents file replacement lists.
Legis bodies must be 100 pct full at ALL times.
The NC GOP says in effect “states can’t keep people off the ballot for congress, even if they are under-age,”
Where was the North Carolina Republican Party when Eldridge Cleaver got thrown off the California ballot for being too young to be President? I know he was not running for Congress, but it would be the same principle.
I personally think that nobody who fails to meet the legal criteria for serving should be on the ballot, but I don’t run the NC GOP.
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA531961.pdf
amnesty back to Am Rev War
1974 – just before collapse of S. Vietnam govt in 1975.
“Where was the North Carolina Republican Party when Eldridge Cleaver got thrown off the California ballot for being too young to be President? I know he was not running for Congress, but it would be the same principle.”
Well that was in California, not North Carolina.
There have been states before that have allowed ineligible presidential candidates to be on the ballot. The one I remember semi-recently is Nicaraguan-born Roger Calero of the Socialist Wor
kers Party where they intentionally nominated someone ineligibl, and I think his VP nominee was younger than 35.
I agree with your overall statement of anyone ineligible as determined by some mythical National Elections Judge should not run for office they are ineligible for, but no such entity exists..
I do think there’s merit to the argument. If Cawthorn is ineligible to run for a seat in Congress due to the insurrection clause, why has he been allowed to continue to sit in Congress the past 14 months?
The commies are trying to push him out. That’s the only reason this is happening.
az wrote: “Legis bodies must be 100 pct full at ALL times.”
Sometimes I feel like I might be better represented if the seats from the districts that I live in were left vacant.
https://electionlawblog.org/?p=128218
ongoing machinations in the C saga
https://electionlawblog.org/?p=128239
Link to Dist Ct opin.
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When will SCOTUS get the mess ???