The six-month-long legal battle brought on by Judge Jefferson Griffin ended on Wednesday as the Republican candidate conceded to incumbent Justice Allison Riggs, according to The Associated Press.
“While I do not fully agree with the District Court’s analysis, I respect the court’s holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case,” Griffin said in a statement provided to the Associated Press. “I will not appeal the court’s decision.”
Griffin’s concession comes after a federal judge ordered North Carolina election officials to confirm the victory of Justice Allison Riggs on the state Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Richard Myers, appointed to the bench by Trump, ruled that all of the ballots challenged by Judge Jefferson Griffin must count and ordered the State Board of Elections to certify the results that Allison Riggs won.
According to The Associated Press, Myers wrote that votes couldn’t be removed six months after Election Day without damaging due process or equal protection rights of the affected residents.
The election board “must not proceed with implementation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court’s orders, and instead must certify the results of the election for (the seat) based on the tally at the completion of the canvassing period,” wrote Myers.
The order and Griffin’s concession mark a big victory for North Carolina voters, voting rights experts, and Justice Allison Riggs, who advocated for protecting North Carolina’s voters from this unprecedented assault on their right to vote.
“After millions of dollars spent, more than 68,000 voters at risk of losing their votes, thousands of volunteers mobilized, hundreds of legal documents filed, and immeasurable damage done to our democracy, I’m glad the will of the voters was finally heard, six months and two days after Election Day,” Justice Allison Riggs said in a statement. “It’s been my honor to lead this fight — even though it should never have happened — and I’m in awe of the North Carolinians whose courage reminds us all that we can use our voices to hold accountable any politician who seeks to take power out of the hands of the people.”
Confirmed by two independent recounts, Justice Allison Riggs won the November election by 734 votes. Despite North Carolinians voting for Riggs to take the state Supreme Court seat, her opponent, Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin, attempted to throw out thousands of votes in order to overturn the election results.
For the past six months, Griffin challenged more than 65,500 votes cast in the 2024 November election. Several reports show that Griffin’s challenge disproportionately impacted voters from Democrat-leaning counties, Black and Brown communities, and young North Carolinians. More than 5,500 military servicemembers and overseas voters were also being targeted by Griffin’s attack.
Amid state Republicans and Griffin’s efforts to overturn the election, the state’s second-highest court gave the GOP control of the election board in a partisan power grab. Legal experts and voting rights advocates have sounded the alarm over the move, which could be used to overturn election results.
“I fear that this decision is the latest step in the partisan effort to steal a seat on the Supreme Court,” North Carolina Governor Josh Stein stated in a post. “No emergency exists that can justify the Court of Appeals’ decision to interject itself at this point. The only plausible explanation is to permit the Republican State Auditor to appoint a new State Board of Elections that will try to overturn the results of the Supreme Court race.”
