Judicial Watch: Split Decision on Executive Powers
A key judicial panel has delivered a split decision on the fight between the General Assembly and Governor Roy Cooper over the balance of powers between the branches of government. As a result, key environmental appointments still hang in the balance.
The three-judge special panel of Superior Court judges charged with evaluating the state constitutionality of three challenged legislative actions limiting the governor’s powers returned a mixed set of conclusions. Two favored the governor’s authority, and one checked off on the legislature’s right to add a new restriction.
In the governor’s corner, the bipartisan trio of judges (all named to the panel by the Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court) agreed that the legislature exceeded its authority with a bill stripping the governor of the ability to name a majority of the State Board of Elections (SBOE) and county boards of elections, combining the SBOE with the state ethics panel, and adopting other changes guaranteed to put effective control of this key executive function in the hands of the legislative leadership.
This is highly good news for advocates of fair and open elections in North Carolina. Awarding complete control of the elections process to the current state legislative leadership was nearly certain to result in restricted early voting opportunities and a generally tougher process for many citizens to exercise their right to vote. Among other problems, the law would have given legislative appointees to boards of elections the ability to block all early voting plans in counties, and in those cases automatically defaulted early voting to a single site per county, open only during weekday business hours.
In the other two matters, the panel of judges split 2-1. On the question of legislative reduction of the governor’s appointive authority from a total of 1,500 policy-making and managerial executive branch staff members to just 425, the majority found for the governor. However, on the question of whether the N.C. Senate could require confirmation hearings of state executive branch cabinet agency heads, the majority found for the legislature. This means that Cooper’s choices for the heads of the departments of Environmental Quality and of Natural and Cultural Resources must go before the State Senate for approval.
The decisions by the Superior Court panel are not necessarily the final word on any of these matters. Appeals to the appellate review courts may modify or reverse any of these calls. In the meantime, however, it’s a mix of good and worrisome news for conservation advocates in our state.
