North Carolina judges on Friday put a temporary brake on renewed efforts by Republican state lawmakers to curtail the new Democratic governor’s control over state and local elections. A panel of state trial court judges voted 2-1 to stop a new law from taking effect Monday until a more extensive hearing on May 10. The panel’s majority said Gov. Roy Cooper was likely to succeed in challenging a law GOP legislators passed this week diluting the ability governors have had for more than a century to pick election board majorities. State Senate leader Phil Berger blasted the temporary restraining order, saying legislators had responded to the panel’s rejection of an earlier version by tailoring the revamped effort “exactly as they required.”
The temporary freeze “is little different than the legislating from the bench they specifically promised they would not do,” Berger said in a prepared statement. “They have taken the first, disturbing step toward giving Roy Cooper total control of the board responsible for regulating his own ethics and campaign finance conduct, and we will continue to defend the law evenly dividing elections and ethics enforcement between both political parties.”
A Cooper spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Friday’s ruling.
It’s the latest battle over the GOP-dominated General Assembly’s efforts to reduce or check Cooper’s powers. The fight began in December when lawmakers passed a law limiting the governor’s election powers within days after Republican Gov. Pat McCrory conceded a narrow loss to Cooper.
Full Article: North Carolina judges back governor over election changes | North Carolina | greensboro.com.