Voting Rights Roundup: GOP floats impeaching N. Carolina Supreme Court in growing war on democracy
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Leading Off ● North Carolina: On Friday, North Carolina Republicans escalated their assault on democracy to yet another level when state party executive director Dallas Woodhouse issued a barely veiled threat to impeach the state Supreme Court if its DemocVoting Rights Roundup: GOP floats impeaching N. Carolina Supreme Court in growing war on democracy
Leading Off ● North Carolina: On Friday, North Carolina Republicans escalated their assault on democracy to yet another level when state party executive director Dallas Woodhouse issued a barely veiled threat to impeach the state Supreme Court if its Democratic majority blocks the GOP's attempt to put several deceptively worded constitutional amendments on the November ballot in a widely criticized partisan power grab. Campaign Action In other words, Republicans are telling the justices, “Rule the way we want or we’ll boot you out of your jobs”—making no attempt whatsoever to disguise their contempt for the rule of law and judicial independence. And this is no idle threat, since the GOP has the two-thirds majority in the state Senate they’d need to oust these judges, thanks to gerrymanders that were ruled unconstitutional in 2017. This threat of a constitutional crisis comes amid the GOP's last-ditch effort to use their illegally obtained supermajorities to entrench their power before this November's elections, which are likely to give Democrats enough votes to sustain Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's vetoes. Republicans previously rushed to change state law so that they themselves could write the language on the ballots describing these amendments, allowing them to describe the proposals in misleading terms. For instance, they’ve labeled an amendment to let GOP legislators gerrymander the judicial branch and pack the Supreme Court to end Democratic control a «nonpartisan merit-based system» of judicial appointments. Their other nefarious amendments also include one that would require voter ID, after the GOP’s 2013 voter ID law was struck down for racial discrimination; one that would shift many executive branch appointments from the governor to the legislature, including the state Board of Elections, so that Republicans can veto Democratic efforts to undo past GOP voter suppression; and one that would lower the maximum income tax rate to fiscally hobble future Democratic state governments. Making matters worse, a newly discovered loophole in the judicial gerrymandering amendment would let Republican legislators include «other matters» when passing bills to appoint judges—bills that aren't subject to gubernatorial veto. Combined with their proposal on executive branch appointees, these two amendments are designed to neuter the governor's remaining political powers and transfer them to a ruthlessly gerrymandered legislature. Read more