How Desperate Are Republicans About the NC Supreme Court

Barbara Jackson, the Republican
who wants to be the ONLY
Republican

This desperate:

After Republicans in the NC General Assembly finished seizing power from the Constitutional Amendments Publication Commission yesterday, they turned their attention to manipulating the ballot to favor the Republican incumbent running for reelection to the NC Supreme Court this year, Justice Barbara Jackson.

Not making this up: They passed a law, Senate Bill 3, decreeing that the other Republican running for Barbara Jackson's seat, Chris Anglin, would not be listed on the ballot as a Republican. Barbara Jackson will be listed as a Republican. Anita Earls will be listed as a Democrat. But Chris Anglin -- who changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican as a protest, following the law on party-changing that the same Republican General Assembly had passed -- well, Chris Anglin would have no party identification on the ballot at all, but rather a printed, scolding note saying that party affiliation is listed only for candidates who did not change registration 90 days before the end of the filing period. In other words and without naming Chris Anglin, the Republicans flush him down a whirlpool of political retribution for foiling their excellent plans for winning Barbara Jackson.

If this isn't a clear-cut case of denying Chris Anglin due process of law under the 14th Amendment, changing the rules in order to hurt him and hurt him only, then I'd hate to actually see a more clear-cut case. Senate Bill 3 is practically a bill of attainder (outlawed by the US Constitution, incidentally) in that it finds Chris Anglin guilty of the crime of impersonating a Republican and punishes him for it without a trial or any due process.

Chris Anglin, the other
Republican who's been
told he can't be a Republican

(We wrote about Chris Anglin here on July 5th -- if you want background and more primer on the law that the Republicans themselves had passed that made his candidacy not only possible but also kind of inevitable.)

Chris Anglin issued a statement last night following passage of Senate Bill 3:

This evening GOP leaders of the Legislature are once again demonstrating that they have forgotten what it is to be Constitutional Conservatives.

They are so frightened by our campaign and message, that in a stunning act of cowardice, they are taking steps to misrepresent who I am on the ballot. They made the rules, I followed them. This is another example of them changing the rules in the middle of the game. They will stop at nothing to hand pick their judge and undermine our democratic process.

This invites a debate about who decides who is a Republican and what it means to be one. I welcome that.

I chose to run as a Republican for a reason. To be a voice for Republicans who are appalled at these types of shenanigans that attack our rule of law and the checks and balances of our Republic. I’ve just begun the fight.

 I trust that last sentence is a promise that Chris Anglin will sue their pants off.

Anita Earls, the Democrat running for NC Supreme Court