North Carolina state Supreme Court agrees to rehear election cases

By 
 February 6, 2023

North Carolina Democrats were handed a major defeat last week after the state's highest judicial body agreed to rehear cases involving voter identification laws and election districts.

According to The Epoch Times, the North Carolina state Supreme Court voted five to two last Friday in favor of a petition brought by Republican lawmakers.

GOP majority

The GOP plaintiffs are seeking to have Holmes v. Moore and Moore v. Harper revisited. Both of the cases were decided last year when a majority of the court's justices were Democrats.

In Holmes v. Moore, the court struck down a state voter ID law, arguing that the legislation discriminated against minorities.

Meanwhile, the court held in Moore v. Harper (formerly known as Harper v. Hall) that Republican-drawn congressional and state Senate electoral maps had to be thrown out.

Spectrum News 1 reported that both decisions were welcomed on Friday by North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore.

"It's time for voter ID to be law"

"The people of North Carolina sent a message election day," Moore was quoted as saying. "They clearly rejected the judicial activism of the outgoing majority."

"I am committed to fighting for the rule of law and will of the voters," he continued, adding, "It's time for voter ID to be law, as the people of North Carolina have demanded."

Sam Hayes serves as general counsel for the House speaker, and he released a statement in which he complained that "Holmes was wrongly decided based on a predetermined outcome."

"We now have a chance to right this wrong and deliver on voter ID, which the voters of this state overwhelmingly support," Hayes insisted.

Democratic justice claimed voter ID rules target Black voters

Spectrum News 1 recalled how in the court's ruling, Democratic Associate Justice Anitta Earls declared that Republican-backed voter ID rules specifically targeted Black residents.

She asserted that they "were formulated with an impermissible intent to discriminate against African American voters in violation of the North Carolina Constitution."

"We hold that the three-judge panel’s findings of fact are supported by competent evidence showing that the statute was motivated by a racially discriminatory purpose," Earls wrote.

Fox News noted last week that voter ID and redistricting are not the only election-related issues that could come before the North Carolina Supreme Court, as it is also debating whether to hear a case on voting rights for felons.

" A free people [claim] their rights, as derived from the laws of nature."
Thomas Jefferson
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