High Court, Low Politics
It’s one of the great all-time political ironies. Years of Republican legislators’ efforts to pick and pack North Carolina’s judiciary have led to a (wait for it) 6-1 Democratic majority and one of the most progressive Supreme Courts in our history.
No wonder Senate Boss Phil Berger was in such a lather about the courts in his response to Governor Roy Cooper’s State of the State.
Above all, Republicans are shocked, shocked that Governor Cooper did exactly what they have done, want to do and tried every possible way to do: appoint judges who are members of his party and share his philosophy.
Hold the high-fives, Democrats. All these gains are up for grabs in next year’s elections – for the Court, for Governor and for the General Assembly. Still, as Democrats celebrate Governor Cooper’s elevation of Cheri Beasley to Chief Justice and appointment of Mark Davis to the Court, they might be amused by reviewing the antics of Berger & Co.
First, the Republicans passed a law to add party labels to judicial elections. They thought that would help elect more Republican judges.
Then they passed a bill to eliminate judicial primaries in 2018 so they could draw new, gerrymandered judicial maps. They abolished primaries for statewide races that aren’t subject to district lines because they were working on plans to have judges selected by the legislature, instead of elected.
They changed the election rules for 2018 so that any candidate could declare affiliation with a party right up to the time of filing for office. That led to two Republicans running for the Supreme Court and Democrat Anita Earls winning the seat.
They tried to amend the Constitution, upend the separation of powers and give themselves the power to select judges. But the voters said no.
Now, this summary shortens and oversimplifies a long and convoluted trail of trickery, treachery and travesty. It all had one goal: to stop judges from striking down unconstitutional legislative power grabs. Especially by a legislature elected from unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts.
In the end, the whole scheme backfired, and North Carolina got a dramatically transformed Supreme Court. It just goes to show that, clearly, there is karma in the political Universe.
High Court, Low Politics
It’s one of the great all-time political ironies. Years of Republican legislators’ efforts to pick and pack North Carolina’s judiciary have led to a (wait for it) 6-1 Democratic majority and one of the most progressive Supreme Courts in our history.
No wonder Senate Boss Phil Berger was in such a lather about the courts in his response to Governor Roy Cooper’s State of the State.
Above all, Republicans are shocked, shocked that Governor Cooper did exactly what they have done, want to do and tried every possible way to do: appoint judges who are members of his party and share his philosophy.
Hold the high-fives, Democrats. All these gains are up for grabs in next year’s elections – for the Court, for Governor and for the General Assembly. Still, as Democrats celebrate Governor Cooper’s elevation of Cheri Beasley to Chief Justice and appointment of Mark Davis to the Court, they might be amused by reviewing the antics of Berger & Co.
First, the Republicans passed a law to add party labels to judicial elections. They thought that would help elect more Republican judges.
Then they passed a bill to eliminate judicial primaries in 2018 so they could draw new, gerrymandered judicial maps. They abolished primaries for statewide races that aren’t subject to district lines because they were working on plans to have judges selected by the legislature, instead of elected.
They changed the election rules for 2018 so that any candidate could declare affiliation with a party right up to the time of filing for office. That led to two Republicans running for the Supreme Court and Democrat Anita Earls winning the seat.
They tried to amend the Constitution, upend the separation of powers and give themselves the power to select judges. But the voters said no.
Now, this summary shortens and oversimplifies a long and convoluted trail of trickery, treachery and travesty. It all had one goal: to stop judges from striking down unconstitutional legislative power grabs. Especially by a legislature elected from unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts.
In the end, the whole scheme backfired, and North Carolina got a dramatically transformed Supreme Court. It just goes to show that, clearly, there is karma in the political Universe.