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Fair Representation

  • On Thursday a three-judge Wake County Superior Court panel heard arguments in a fair representation case brought by the NAACP in 2018. The case challenges the constitutionality of two 2018 amendments to the NC Constitution, with the NAACP claiming that the racial gerrymandering of the legislature made its placement of the amendments on the ballot illegitimate. In 2022 a 4-3 Democratic majority in the NC Supreme Court generally sided with the NAACP but found that more specific evidence was needed for this case. They ordered that the case go back to a lower court for a new trial to analyze additional evidence. Since that decision, the state Supreme Court has shifted to Republican control, and Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby chose the 3-judge panel that is now considering whether to dismiss the case (as Republicans in the NCGA want). It is likely that if the case is dismissed it will go back to the state Supreme Court.


Voting Rights 

Voting Rights 



 Health Care Policy

  • On Friday the NC Supreme Court ruled in a case that could significantly change how North Carolina’s health care industry operates. In response to a suit from a New Bern eye doctor who has been prohibited from buying equipment to perform cataract surgeries due to certificate-of-need rules, the state Supreme Court ordered that the case go back to a lower court to be retried to determine whether certificate-of-need rules are unconstitutional. These rules, which are supported by hospital lobbying groups, require health care organizations to gain approval from the government to buy equipment or open health care facilities so that unnecessary health care spending does not impact costs for consumers.

Voting Rights 


Economic Policy

  • On Thursday Governor Cooper signed a disaster relief package into law that responds to destruction caused by Hurricane Helene. HB 149, which legislators called a “first step” in disaster relief efforts, allocates $273 million in relief funds. Most of that will act as a match for federal relief funding, with additional portions going toward salaries for nutrition staff at closed schools and support for the State Board of Elections emergency voting response. The bill also allows schools impacted by the storm to make schedule and teaching modality adjustments. Legislators return to Raleigh on October 24 and will likely pass additional disaster relief bills then.

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