Top North Carolina legislative leaders have filed paperwork seeking to end a legal battle over state constitutional amendments that voters approved in 2018. The case, North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP v. Moore, has been ongoing for nearly six years and has prompted the John Locke Foundation to create a podcast called “Extreme Injustice.” The case challenges two amendments, one regarding photo identification for voters and the other lowering the state’s income tax cap.
The current three-judge panel handling the case issued an order in April rejecting the plaintiffs’ request to transfer the case back to a single Wake County judge. The case was returned to the trial-court level in August 2022 after a party-line 4-3 vote by the state Supreme Court’s then-Democratic majority. The court ruled that a trial judge could invalidate the amendments under certain circumstances.
In their recent court filing seeking summary judgment, legislative lawyers argue that there is no substantial risk that the amendments would violate democratic accountability, exclude voters from the democratic process, or discriminate against certain groups. The case does not affect North Carolina’s current voter ID requirement, but a separate federal lawsuit could impact the future of voter ID laws.
The three-judge panel overseeing the case consists of Judges Gregory Bell, Michael Duncan, and Cynthia Sturges. The panel took over the case following a transfer order from Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley. Plaintiffs, led by the NAACP, have argued that the amendments should be invalidated due to alleged racial gerrymandering by the Republican-led General Assembly.
The case has been the subject of several legal battles and rulings by the state Supreme Court. The current efforts by legislative leaders aim to bring an end to the long-standing dispute over the validity of the constitutional amendments approved by voters in 2018.
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