Opinion

Standing and the NC Supreme Court: Rediscovering our legal heritage

Standing is probably one of the most disliked doctrines in American law. Basically, it requires private plaintiffs in federal court (most state courts, including in NC, have similar rules) to show that they have been individually harmed by an action before they can sue to stop it. Since it is a procedural limit, standing often...

Maclain Conlin
Opinion

Time to get rid of the soft-on-crime politicians

I’m less interested in partisan politics than some of my peers, but I’m tired of politicians coddling criminals. Violent crime is up in North Carolina and generally way up in many of America’s urban environments. Violent crime in Asheville is up 31% over five years. Statistics are telling, but behind the numbers are actual dead mothers, sons, and other...

Ray Nothstine
News

Is Central Piedmont Community College discriminating based on race?

Legal counsel for the Project on Fair Representation sent a letter to Central Piedmont Community College, because a fully funded fellowship program there is purportedly only open to “Black / African American” candidates. The April 18 letter warns the college “that you are likely violating the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Title VI and Title VII of the...

CJ Staff

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News

Justices Barringer, Berger confirm they will hear N.C. constitutional amendments case

N.C. Supreme Court Justices Tamara Barringer and Phil Berger Jr. confirmed late Friday afternoon that they will take part in a high-profile case involving two challenged amendments to the N.C. Constitution. In separate orders, the two Republican justices denied motions seeking their removal from the case called NAACP v. Moore. The orders mark an official...

CJ Staff
Opinion

UNC professor claims only Democrats protect black voters’ rights

A liberal UNC-Chapel Hill professor testified Tuesday that GOP-crafted election maps represent a conservative white backlash against rising black political power. Professor James Leloudis appeared on behalf of Democratic Party-aligned plaintiffs working to overturn voting maps passed by the Republican-led General Assembly, arguing that the maps are unfair to black North Carolinians. Leloudis, a UNC-CH...

Dallas Woodhouse
Opinion

Is compensatory wetland mitigation the smoking gun of a constitutional taking?

Of the twelve disciples, by my count, at least seven were fishermen. I believe Jesus chose fishermen because they were all too familiar with what we call “real.” Granted, there was plenty of “real” in Jesus’ time, but the “real” associated with the men of the sea is a concept that has endured the ages....

Nelson Paul
Video

Thomas Maher of N.C. Office of Indigent Defense Services discusses criminal justice reform

Thomas Maher, executive director of the N.C. Office of Indigent Defense Services, discusses growing support across party and ideological lines for criminal justice reform, including his office’s work. Maher offered these comments during a Jan. 11, 2016, speech for the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society.