NC GOP Still Wants To Mess with Judicial System ... This Time, Maybe It's Okay?

I don't know. I don't trust the bastards, after all they've schemed to do to tilt the judicial system in North Carolina to their favor.

But former Court of Appeals Judge Doug McCullough (a Republican, just incidentally) says the newest bill is a good idea, and I tend to trust Judge McCullough ... because of this recent history.

Anyway, three Republican state senators have introduced a bill in Raleigh to reverse a court-meddling bill the Republicans just passed in early 2017. At that time they decided to reduce the size of the state's Court of Appeals from 15 to 12 judges, mainly because mandatory retirements were going to allow Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper the ability to name replacements for a couple of Republican judges on that court (Doug McCullough being one of those).

Now Senate Republicans want to repeal that law and restore the Court of Appeals to 15 judges. One of the chief sponsors for the reversal is Sen. Ralph Hise of Spruce Pine, a man whose ethics have been widely questioned for years, so naturally I'm suspicious of his motives.

It'll take legal minds to unpack that legislation (Senate Bill 75) to determine what might be lurking within it, because I suspect something bad is lurking within it.

Republican Appeals Court Judge Suddenly Retires So Gov. Cooper Can Appoint His Replacement

Talk about a powerful Republican giving the middle finger to the power-grabbing Republicans in the General Assembly!

Dough McCullough

Republican Court of Appeals Justice Doug McCullough just retired from the Court today (weeks ahead of his mandatory forced retirement) so that Governor Roy Cooper could appoint his replacement today, ahead of the Republican majority in the General Assembly's overriding Cooper's veto of a law which takes away Cooper's ability to appoint replacements to the Court of Appeals.

Are you following this?

If this were a novel, you'd throw it against the wall as too, too improbable and far-fetched.

Cooper appointed John Arrowood, who is openly gay, to replace McCullough.

Cool move, Judge McCullough! It will take Republicans with honest, fair minds to push back the overwhelming arrogance of the Republicans in the General Assembly. And a Democratic governor willing to go there.

Cooper went there!