Court of Appeals Grants Stay Request By North Carolina Lawmakers On Lower Court Ruling

The North Carolina Court of Appeals has granted a stay of a Wake County Judge’s ruling pending review of the Writ of Supersedeas filed this week by state lawmakers. The order from the Court of Appeals grants a stay motion requested by filed by Speaker Tim Moore and Senator Pro Tem Phil Berger and the ruling by Wake County Judge Bryan Collins is temporarily suspended. The order also says that the court will consider the Writ of Supersedeas “upon the filing of a response to the petition” or no response is filed in the proper time frame. March 1, Superior Court Judge George Bryan Collins, Jr. ruled that two out of four state constitutional amendments passed by North Carolina voters in 2018 were invalid because the State Legislature was itself “illegal.” “An illegally constituted General Assembly does not represent the people of North Carolina and is therefore not empowered to pass legislation that would amend the state’s constitution,” Collins wrote in his ruling. “Although the ruling only directly invalidates the two laws that were challenged in the suit, under Judge Collins’s theory every act passed by the General Assembly between June 5, 2017, and December 31, 2018, is invalid,” says…

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North Carolina Lawmakers File Writ to Stop a Ruling Blocking Amendments Passed By Voters

State lawmakers have now filed a 32-page Writ of Supersedeas after a motion for a stay was rejected. A Writ of Supersedeas is a legal filing, similar to a stay of proceeding, which suspends a trial court’s judgment until an appeal is heard. “More than two million North Carolinians had their votes suppressed on critical issues of election integrity and the income tax cap for their families,” Speaker Moore said in a statement. “The Court of Appeals should reverse this outrageous decision as soon as possible to restore the people’s confidence that their voices matter and cannot be invalidated by a single judge who disagrees with their decision,” said Moore. On March 1, Superior Court Judge George Bryan Collins, Jr. ruled that two out of four state constitutional amendments passed by North Carolina voters in 2018 were illegal because the State Legislature was itself “illegal.” “An illegally constituted General Assembly does not represent the people of North Carolina and is therefore not empowered to pass legislation that would amend the state’s constitution,” Collins wrote in his ruling. “The trial court became perhaps the first court in the country to invalidate legislation based on the theory that a state’s legislative branch…

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North Carolina Lawmakers File Motion to Block Ruling That Would Overturn New Constitutional Amendments

North Carolina state lawmakers have filed a motion to stay a ruling made this past week that invalidates two constitutional amendments passed by voters in 2018. The motion, filed by House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) and Senate Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Rockingham), calls into question the logic of the ruling, its impact on elections, election law, voting districts, and past laws such as budgets. “The precedent created by this decision casts doubt on even more laws and causes public confusion,” the motion says. Last Friday, Superior Court Judge George Bryan Collins, Jr. ruled that two out of four state constitutional amendments passed by North Carolina voters in 2018 were illegal because the State Legislature was itself “illegal.” “An illegally constituted General Assembly does not represent the people of North Carolina and is therefore not empowered to pass legislation that would amend the state’s constitution,” Collins wrote in his ruling. A press release by the office of Senator Phil Berger blasted Collin’s ruling. The press release states that Collins’s decision “tosses aside the will of more than two million voters” who cast a ballot for the voter ID amendment. The statement says the same disenfranchisement applies to those who cast a ballot…

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With Surgical Precision, Judge’s Ruling Disenfranchises Millions of North Carolina Voters

Friday, a Wake County Superior Court judge’s ruling involving state constitutional amendments has left half of North Carolina’s voters disenfranchised. Superior Court Judge George Bryan Collins, Jr. ruled that two out of four state constitutional amendments passed by North Carolina voters in 2018 were illegal because the state legislature was itself ‘illegal’. “An illegally constituted General Assembly does not represent the people of North Carolina and is therefore not empowered to pass legislation that would amend the state’s constitution,” Collins wrote in his ruling. The suit Collins ruled on specifically only sought to invalidate only two of four passed amendments. The case was brought by the Southern Environment Law Center on behalf of the NC NAACP and an affiliated legal group called “Forward Justice.” According to state and federal records, Forward Justice only recently obtained 501(c)3 status had previously been named Southern Strategy Project and Southern Justice. “We are delighted that the acts of the previous majority, which came to power through the use of racially discriminatory maps, have been checked,” said Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman of the NC NAACP. Responses from state leaders were swift, calling the ruling outrageous and a clear act of ‘judicial activism’. “We will…

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