- Dems nullify election like Donald Trump could only dream of doing.
Democrats on the state Supreme Court told more than three million voters to drop dead by canceling their votes for two constitutional amendments placed on the ballot in 2018.
Democrats continued their wrecking ball on the separation of powers by declaring that the people of North Carolina can’t choose to amend their constitution by a vote of the people if the courts determine the districts of the legislators who moved to put the amendments on the ballot came from districts ruled unconstitutional by the courts.
Voters passed the two amendments by wide margins. The first lowered the maximum top income tax rate, dropping the cap from 10% to 7%. The other amendment required that voters present a state-approved photo identification to vote.
Some 2,094,924 people voted to lower North Carolina’s state constitutional cap on income taxes. With 57% support in the statewide referendum, tax cap proponents beat opponents by more than 537,000 votes.
The voter ID amendment vote was closer. But the 2,049,121 “yes” votes amounted to 55% of the total. Voter ID advocates beat critics by more than 405,000 votes statewide.
However, Democrats on the State Supreme Court erased those votes like they never happened in one of the single largest voter disenfranchisements in state history.
Key Facts
Although legislative districts have been litigated across the country for hundreds of years, no state court has declared an entire legislative body invalid. That is what the court did.
- For now, this decision is limited to the two constitutional amendments the NAACP sued over, taxes and voter I.D.
- However, there would be no legal justification to allow two other constitutional amendments passed in the same way to stand. Should some group sue over the amendment guaranteeing hunting and fishing rights or the crime victims amendment, the court would have to strike those down unless they just make up the law again
- How can the court throw out amendments only proposed by the General Assembly, passed by the voters, and allow hundreds of laws passed over the last decade to stand? There is no legal or even logical justification. Any defense attorney with a client convicted under recently altered criminal statutes would be committing malpractice if they did not file an appeal on these grounds. At worst, dangerous criminals will eventually be released because of this ruling. At a minimum, the court system will see chaos.
The Woodshed has covered every twist and turn of the Democrat’s election, overturning efforts that have now been put in place. Last year we declared that this case could destroy the N.C. Supreme Court for years to come. CJ covered in-depth efforts by Democrats on the state Supreme Court to force GOP justices off the case, in part to help insulate Democrat Justice Jimmy Ervin from a career-ending vote to overturn these popular amendments.
The backlash ignited by the Carolina Journal-Extreme Injustice podcast and reporting made it impossible for Democrats to kick off GOP Justices. Quietly over Christmas, Democrats dropped the efforts.
In the end, Ervin voted with the Democrats nullifying the 4.1 million votes for the amendments. Ervin put himself on the wrong side of the voters and likely just voted to end his career in public office. He faces Republican Trey Allen this November.
Democrats on the state Supreme Court are taking a wrecking ball to the judiciary and the rule of law. They have determined that only they can decide what districts legislators can represent. Only they know the secret sauce that makes districts constitutional. The state Supreme Court has not just violated the separation of powers. They have destroyed it. They have destroyed the court and constitutional norms.
And they don’t care. Democrats hate Republicans more than care for the voters.