The Real, Fulminating Threat to Democracy in NC

 

Paul Newby,
"His Benevolence"

In Sunday's News&Observer, UNC Law School Professor Gene Nichol had a stark round-up of the "Six Factors That Brought Down NC Democracy in 2024." Nichol lays much of the blame for the precarious condition of democracy in North Carolina at the doorstep of the state Supreme Court, "transformed into the most partisan appellate tribunal in the United States" under the ascendancy of Chief Justice Paul Newby (a.k.a., "The Smiling Eff You") who thinks the General Assembly under Republican super-majorities is the “sacrosanct fulfillment of the people’s will.” In other words, the hand of the Almighty has bestowed its blessings on Phil Berger, and we all must do as he wishes.

Nichol:

Broadly speaking, state separation of powers issues are left in the hands of state supreme courts, unreviewable by the federal judiciary. So when the state Supreme Court says the General Assembly can do whatever it wants — including cheating on redistricting and overriding the results of elections through sore loser laws — regardless of the clear limits of the North Carolina constitution, the people of the state have no legal or effective political recourse. Such are the wages of a Supreme Court refusing to carry out its prescribed duty of independent judicial review.

The other four partisan Republicans who follow the leadership of Paul Newby:

1. Phil Berger Jr., "Baby Berger," whose very presence on the Court owes much to the power of his big daddy, Phil Senior. Junior is a "nepo baby." We wrote about his rise in January 2019. His term isn't up until 2028.

2. Tamara Barringer, the former Republican state senator until she was defeated in the 2018 Blue Wave by Democrat Sam Searcy, ran for and won her associate justice seat in 2020. She's next up for reelection in 2028.

3. Richard Dietz, whose term runs out in 2030, was originally appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2014 by Gov. Pat McCrory. 

4. Trey Allen, who clerked for Paul Newby (a.k.a., "Rumpelstiltskin"), was elected in 2022, so he's safe until 2030. 

We have a lot of years of suffering ahead of us before any potential break in the clouds.

Rumplestiltskin