State legislative leaders want the N.C. Court of Appeals to block a ruling that could add 56,000 felons to the state’s voting rolls. A trial court issued the ruling Monday. It would open up voting to felons on parole, probation, or other post-release supervision. “This is an unrivaled attempt by judges to legislate from the...
The N.C. Supreme Court has agreed to block a lower court ruling against Greenville’s red-light camera enforcement program. The court granted a temporary stay Wednesday. It will allow the program to proceed as a lawsuit against red-light cameras continues. Greenville and the Pitt County school system jointly requested the stay Tuesday. A unanimous three-judge panel...
North Carolina’s 2018 voter ID law complies with the state constitution and should survive a legal challenge. That’s according to briefs submitted in the N.C. Supreme Court from state legislative leaders and the N.C. Justice Department. Both briefs urge the Supreme Court to reverse a trial court’s 2-1 ruling from September 2021 in the case...
Judge Michael Robinson can reject his predecessor's faulty decision to bypass the General Assembly's power of the purse.
A three-judge Superior Court panel has ruled, 2-1, that felons who have completed their prison sentences in North Carolina must be permitted to vote. The ruling strikes down a 1973 state law that blocked voting by felons on probation, parole, or post-release supervision. The decision could add more than 56,000 people to the state’s voting...
The case of a fired Durham police sergeant gives the N.C. Supreme Court a chance to consider constitutional protection of economic liberty. The state’s highest court agreed this month to take up the case of Michael Mole’. He argues Durham was wrong to fire him from his police job after a controversial 2016 hostage negotiation....
Lawyers representing N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein and Republican legislative leaders want the state Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit linked to now-repealed Mecklenburg County judicial districts. In a joint filing, both sets of lawyers say the case is moot. The General Assembly voted in 2020 to repeal the law that created the judicial districts....
Despite overwhelming support for North Carolina to remain a Right to Work state, the movement toward enshrining the policy in the state constitution has been static. Seventy-five years ago this week, North Carolina enacted the Right to Work law, which banned making union membership a condition of employment and codified a broad anti-union consensus across...
A unanimous three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals has ruled Greenville’s red-light camera program unconstitutional. The judges agreed the program does not provide enough of its proceeds to local schools. In a separate case, the same panel rejected an argument that Greenville’s Red Light Camera Enforcement Program violated a constitutional ban on local...
A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Gov. Roy Cooper’s emergency powers has moved closer to a resolution. The senior resident Superior Court judge for Wake County has agreed the case should head to a three-judge panel. That panel will address the lawsuit’s claim that Cooper’s powers under the state Emergency Management Act are unconstitutional. Crystal...
The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday on the blockbuster redistricting case. The court has set aside extra time for both sides to make their arguments. The 4-3 Democrat-controlled court will have to answer a few key questions: Will the Supreme Court reverse a three-judge panel’s holding that questions of partisanship in redistricting...
