US District Judge Catherine Eagles recently issued an order blocking two provisions of North Carolina’s new abortion ban from taking effect during an ongoing lawsuit. According to the Associated Press, nearly all the restrictions put forth by NC Republicans, such as the ban on abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, are still in place and aren’t being specifically challenged at this time.
North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby is personally behind the effort to investigate a fellow Supreme Court justice who spoke out against racial and gender biases within the state court system, a Democratic lawmaker claimed earlier this month, WRAL reported.
In less than a decade, Republican politicians across several states, including in North Carolina, have led efforts to transform state supreme courts in their favor. In recent years, North Carolina Republicans have injected partisan politics into the judicial system; passing laws that would undermine the court’s impartiality, and place judges on the bench that will adhere to their bidding.
A new bill signed into law last week will make major changes to state laws related to juvenile justice. House Bill 186 would roll back privacy protections for juveniles accused of serious crimes; allowing law enforcement to release names, photos, alleged offenses and statements.
Despite rulings only a few months ago by the then Democratic-controlled state Supreme Court, the new 5-2 right-wing court made the extremely rare decision to re-decide cases on voter ID, voting rights for people convicted of felonies and redistricting.
The Supreme Court’s new powers were invented by the five Republican justices when they handed down a ruling on a case about a fired Durham police officer.
In November, the then-Democratic-controlled Supreme Court had voted 4-3 to increase funding in adherence to the Leandro plan.
Last week the North Carolina Supreme Court made the extremely rare move of rehearing two voting rights cases they decided just a few months earlier.
North Carolina Republicans are once again pushing for their newly elected Republican-majority high court to reconsider a decision: Leandro, the state’s long-running education case.
“For this Court to reopen rulings just weeks after they were decided is unprecedented and appalling,” Gov. Roy Cooper said.