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SHALOM Act passes committee, heads to Senate Rules
An amended version of HB 942, The SHALOM Act, received a favorable report during a Senate State and Local Government committee meeting Wednesday morning.
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Former HR director for NCDOR arrested for allegedly trying to meet a teen for sex
A longtime North Carolina state employee was arrested on June 9 in Long Beach, California.
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Republicans push to remove literacy test from state Constitution
State Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, wants to remove the state's Jim Crow-era literacy test for voters. It "ought to be out of our constitution," Berger said. In 1900, during Jim Crow, the literacy test requirement was added to the state Constitution.
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Retired N.C. Supreme Court chief justices join chorus opposing two amendments
The six living retired N.C. Supreme Court chief justices have signed onto a letter opposing two constitutional amendments that sit now in legal limbo. Retired Chief Justices Rhoda Billings, James Exum, Henry Frye, Beverly Lake, Burley Mitchell, and Sarah Parker signed the “Statement of Concerned Lawyers.” Billings and Lake were elected as Republicans. The others...
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Noted attorneys Boyce, Cheshire part of inaugural hall of fame class
An assistant chief counsel to the Watergate Committee, a former Charlotte mayor, a nationally known criminal defense attorney, and the first woman to lead Wake Forest University School of Law are among the 23 lawyers inducted into the inaugural North Carolina Lawyers Hall of Fame during a luncheon Tuesday, June 26, at the Capital Club...
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‘Nonpartisan’ district maps draw lawmakers’ ire
A new unofficial congressional district map released Monday by a bipartisan panel of former state judges was not received warmly by the members of the General Assembly who have the legal authority to set election district lines. The proposal, a result of a joint project between Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and Common Cause North Carolina,...
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Judges, Academics Tackle Redistricting Reform
North Carolina’s constantly shifting population and demographics, and the sour taste both Democrats and Republicans have experienced as a minority party with no meaningful role in the legislative redistricting process, could offer strong incentives to transform redistricting to a nonpartisan, independent commission model, a group of academics, analysts, and retired judges said April 21 at...
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AG Uses Personal Insurance for Legal Bills
RALEIGH — Attorney General Roy Cooper’s use of a personal liability umbrella insurance policy to pay for his defense in a 13-year-old defamation lawsuit allows him to keep confidential how much he has paid lawyers for his defense, something he could not do if he were using a campaign account or legal defense fund.
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Second Round of Social Studies Standards Much Improved, JLF Expert Says
RALEIGH — When the N.C. Department of Public Instruction released its first draft of the standards last year, North Carolinians identified a number of serious defects throughout the revision, particularly the scant coverage of the American Revolution and the Founding Era.
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Cooper Campaign Replies to Charge
RALEIGH — Retired Raleigh attorney Bernard Harrell has asked the State Board of Elections to investigate Attorney General Roy Cooper’s political campaign for not reporting in-kind contributions from nine attorneys and their law firms. According to his letter, after thoroughly researching the issue Harrell thought he should call “attention to what appear to be substantial and continuing violations of the campaign laws of North Carolina.” Cooper’s campaign responded that “the legal costs in this case are being paid by private insurance. The premise of the letter to the Board – that lawyers are contributing services – is wrong.”
