Judicial Watch: Judges Restrain Latest Legislative Power Grab
Are the hyper-partisan leaders of the NC General Assembly tired of losing in court yet? Apparently not.
Continuing the theme of bad moves by the legislature, last week the General Assembly voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of SB 68, which would revamp the state’s elections management system in ways virtually guaranteed to shrink voting opportunities for many citizens. The bill’s provisions would produce that result by setting the stage for routine deadlocks on early voting plans (for one example). That would cause defaults to minimum standards which slash early voting locations and times.
The bill has many of the same problems which led state courts to throw out its earlier version passed in December. As a result, it comes as no surprise to state legal observers that the same three-judge panel which blocked the first version has put this one on hold too.
In granting the Governor’s request to block the new law while deliberating on the arguments for and against it, the judicial panel explained, “Violations of the North Carolina Constitution constitute irreparable harm as a matter of law. The destruction of the State Board of Elections and State Ethics Commission and their replacement with the new, unconstitutional Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement also constitute irreparable harm.”
The panel is referring to the harm that would result from allowing the law to go into effect during the time the court case is being fought through. Their tentative conclusion is that the new law is likely to be found unconstitutional, and they’ve therefore ordered that the existing state elections oversight boards be left in place while the court deliberates.
