Editor’s note: This developing story was last updated Monday afternoon with reply briefs. Last update: 5:05 p.m. Plaintiffs and N.C. Justice Department lawyers are urging a judge to order $795 million in new state education spending. Legal briefs filed since Friday confirm agreement from both groups about whittling down the size of a $1.75 billion...
A chairman of the N.C. Senate’s Redistricting and Elections Committee is raising concerns about the state Supreme Court speeding up the judicial process for “highly political” cases. A news release Wednesday from Sen. Warren Daniel, R-Burke, carries the headline “Deja Vu: Plaintiffs Ask Supreme Court to Sidestep Court of Appeals.” “In another attempt to circumvent...
The N.C. Court of Appeals has issued a temporary stay in a case dealing with felon voting in North Carolina. The stay blocks any felons from registering to vote until appeals in the case are resolved. “The motion [for a] temporary stay is allowed,” according to an Appeals Court order released Tuesday. “The ‘Final Judgment...
A 2-1 ruling from the N.C. Court of Appeals Tuesday criticized a trial judge for limiting a defendant’s in-person access to attorneys during the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision could have an impact during future health scares. “Hindsight is 20/20, and we recognize this Court has the benefit of hindsight but the trial court did not,”...
The N.C. Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower-court ruling blocking Wilmington from using a registration scheme to limit ownership of short-term rental properties. But the unanimous three-judge panel has restored part of the ordinance struck down in the original court order. Despite a mixed ruling for short-term rental property owners and the city, an...
The N.C. Court of Appeals delivered a blow Tuesday to a lawsuit against a 2018 state law allowing some towns to sponsor charter schools. The Appeals Court vacated a trial judge’s order that would have allowed the lawsuit to move forward. The appellate judges’ unanimous decision means the law, S.L. 2018-3, originally known as House...
Winners of a recent trial court ruling on voting rights for felons want the N.C. Supreme Court to take up the case. The ruling could affect 56,000 felons who have completed active prison time. “Plaintiffs seek discretionary review from this Court given the exceptional importance and urgency of the appeal, and of Legislative Defendants’ Petition...
State officials report that close to $800 million remains unfunded from a judge’s $1.7 billion state education spending order. That assessment resulted from a court-ordered comparison of the spending plan and the new state budget. The $1.7 billion order was designed to fund items from the second and third years of a court-imposed Comprehensive Remedial...
Plaintiffs challenging Greenville’s red-light camera enforcement program are asking the N.C. Supreme Court to stay out of the case. The state’s highest court agreed Wednesday to block an Appeals Court ruling against Greenville’s red-light program. That decision was labeled a temporary stay. Now the Supreme Court must decide whether to grant a “writ of superseadas.”...
The legal fight over North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship Program focuses now on whether a single judge or a three-judge panel should hear the case. Lawyers for the state and the scholarships’ parent supporters have filed new briefs supporting the three-judge option. Separate filings in the case titled Kelly v. State of N.C. arrived Wednesday at...
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...
