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Fair Representation
A group of North Carolina voters represented by former NC Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr announced Wednesday that they are suing the state on the basis that gerrymandered maps violate voters’ rights to fair elections under the NC Constitution. The suit, filed in state Superior Court, mentions specific new districts that were redrawn to favor Republicans. Orr, a redistricting expert and former Republican (he is now registered as unaffiliated), said that the fair-elections claim hasn’t been used previously (as the other three cases challenging the election districts drawn last year are based on arguments about racial discrimination).
Voting Rights
On Tuesday state elections officials announced changes in the way they intend to confirm addresses of people who register to vote using same-day voter registration. New guidance requires election workers to take additional steps if an address verification card is returned, first comparing the addresses on the voter registration form and the card and then contacting the voter by mail, email, and phone to allow them to appeal or submit a new identification document. The changes come in response to a court ruling last week that same-day voting registrants’ ballots can’t be thrown out on the basis of one address verification mailing being returned as undeliverable; U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder said he would remove his injunction only once elections officials improve the process. He has not yet said whether the new rules satisfy his requirement.
Education Policy and LGBTQ Rights
On Tuesday the Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) filed a federal Title IX complaint against the State Board of Education and the North Carolina Department of Instruction, alleging that the so-called “Parents’ Bill of Rights” law causes schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students. The law requires schools to disclose students’ name or pronoun changes to their parents and prohibits instruction on gender identity and sexuality in grades K-4. The CSE asked the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to protect students, who they contend are suffering from a hostile environment due to the law.
Economic Policy
On Tuesday a legislative oversight committee held a hearing about North Carolina’s auto insurance practices, specifically the use of a reinsurance facility for high-risk drivers. North Carolina is one of only two states to use such a facility (the other is New Hampshire), a nonprofit group that operates as a risk pool for high-risk drivers. Lawmakers questioned leaders of the North Carolina Reinsurance Facility about their monitoring to make sure insurers aren’t improperly or illegally assigning drivers to the high-risk pool. A 2023 report to the legislature recommended doing away with the facility model altogether, but legislators in the hearing seemed to favor other potential reforms.
Immigration
On Wednesday NC House Republicans sent a letter to Governor Cooper calling on him to direct the 125 North Carolina National Guard members in Texas to work with the Texas National Guard rather than the U.S. Border Patrol. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is currently defying the federal government by preventing federal agents from reaching the border to cut razor wire Texas installed. The letter also called on Cooper to sign a bill that would require county sheriffs to cooperate with ICE. Cooper responded by pointing out that the U.S. Congress is considering a bill that would include tough border security measures, but Republicans are not supporting the bill at the direction of Donald Trump, who believes a strong border bill passing now could hurt his campaign.
Reproductive Rights
On Tuesday Governor Cooper, along with the 21 other governors that make up the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court urging the justices not to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone. Anti-abortion groups are seeking to overturn FDA approval of the drug, and the Supreme Court agreed to review the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that would roll back guidelines on prescribing and dispensing the drug to pre-2016 status, when it was significantly more restricted than it is currently. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on March 26.
Justice
On Monday Governor Cooper issued an executive order to improve outcomes for people leaving prison. The order calls on the Department of Correction to work with agencies across the government to improve formerly incarcerated people’s access to housing, health care (including getting enrolled in Medicaid), and education. With this order, Cooper has enrolled North Carolina in a national effort called Reentry 2030, which aims to get state leaders to improve outcomes for people leaving prison and sets a series of benchmarks to track progress in this area by 2030.
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