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.
A leaked document from the North Carolina Supreme Court obtained by WRAL highlights a right-wing power grab that has been under discussion since just days after Republicans won a majority on the court last November.
Republicans are proposing a bill that will push back the state’s mandatory judicial retirement age in order to keep the NC Supreme Court chief justice and a state Court of Appeals judge on the bench.
The North Carolina Supreme Court, which flipped to a Republican majority in November’s elections, announced that it would rehear a redistricting case and a voter ID case without providing any reason why.
Just months after Republicans won a majority on the state Supreme Court in November’s election, Republican leaders in the General Assembly are asking the high court to throw out last year’s decision on redistricting and voter ID.