The Political Hackery of Rumpelstiltskin's Court

 

T. Keung Hui, for the News and Observer:

That's not a benign smile

The state Supreme Court’s new Republican majority has blocked enforcement of a trial judge’s order to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars to fund public schools .... [affirming] that Superior Court Judge David Lee had exceeded his authority when he ordered a transfer of money as part of the long-running Leandro school funding case.

In November, the then-Democratic-controlled Supreme Court had voted 4-3 to back Lee’s order to increase funding. But since then, Republicans won two seats in the fall elections to gain a 5-2 majority on the high court. 

The Supreme Court’s two remaining Democratic justices dissented on Friday. “Today’s order abandons the concepts of respect for precedent, law of the case, stare decisis, and the rule of law all in the name of preventing the State from complying with its constitutional duty to provide a sound basic education to the children of this state,” Judge Anita Earls wrote in the dissent....