An evenly split N.C. Supreme Court means that a lower-court ruling stands against former Gov. Mike Easley in a dispute over the governor’s power to shift money out of the state’s Highway Trust Fund.
The state’s highest court issued its unsigned opinion this morning. It explains that justices deadlocked 3-3 on the issues surrounding the dispute. Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson did not vote. She took no part in the Supreme Court’s consideration or decision in the case.
The even split affirms the decision of the N.C. Court of Appeals, which ruled that the governor exceeded his constitutional power early in his first term of office when he transferred $80 million from the Highway Trust Fund to the state’s General Fund without legislative approval in order to balance the state budget.
“The Constitution and the people have prevailed,” said Jeanette Doran, senior staff attorney for the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law. NCICL joined the case last year at the request of the original plaintiffs’ attorneys.
“The Court of Appeals decision will stand, and government accountability will stand with it,” Doran said. “The people can count on the constitutional mandate that the General Assembly set the budget and the governor administer it as enacted. Voters can count on future governors not raiding special trust funds.”
The case resulted from actions then-Gov. Easley took in 2001 and 2002. To balance the state budget, Easley shifted an extra $80 million from the Highway Trust Fund to pay bills owed by North Carolina government’s General Fund. That $80 million was an addition to the $170 million already scheduled for transfer out of the Highway Trust Fund.
Legislators agreed to shift an additional $125 million from the Highway Trust Fund, but Easley never sought their permission or endorsement before making his $80 million transfer.
Both the governor’s actions and the General Assembly’s decision drew fire from former state Transportation Secretary James Harrington and former Sen. William Goldston, D-Rockingham.
Key players in the creation of the Highway Trust Fund in 1989, Harrington and Goldston challenged the transfers in a lawsuit filed in November 2002.
The N.C. Supreme Court ruled 4-1 in December 2006 that Harrington and Goldston had legal standing to pursue their lawsuit.
In September 2009, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against Easley. In the same ruling, the appeals panel upheld legislators’ right to make transfers out of the Highway Trust Fund.
North Carolina’s highest court has seven members, so an even split is uncommon. Timmons-Goodson recused herself from the case because she had participated in the Appeals Court panel that addressed the suit during the dispute over legal standing for Harrington and Goldston.