Democracy

On Monday, FBI Director James Comey announced the FBI is investigating the Trump campaign’s Russian ties and said they will investigate no matter how long it takes. Despite the White House and Trump adamantly claiming there has been no Russian interference, there have been proven connections between individuals in the administration and Russia. For example,…

Texas will soon be debating a bill called the “Texas Privacy Act” which is very similar to North Carolina’s own HB2. To show his support for the GOP lawmakers of Texas, North Carolina’s Lt. Gov Dan Forest traveled to Texas to promote a bill that has cost North Carolina hundreds of millions of dollars. But…

While the December power grab from Republicans in Raleigh is still being sorted out by the courts, they’re doubling down with another legislative effort to limit Governor Cooper’s powers. The News and Observer is out with a scathing editorial, slamming this power grab. It really is a must read: If they could, Republicans in the North…

In 2013, the North Carolina General Assembly passed the Opportunity Scholarship Act, which created a voucher program for the state. At the time, there was little data that showed the effectiveness of programs like this. Now, studies have revealed that the voucher system is failing to educate children in comparison to public schools. Despite this,…

With the NCAA deadline on HB2 fast approaching, politicians in Raleigh have rolled out another so-called “compromise.” Unfortunately this bill is really just HB 2.0. We can’t stand for a repeal bill that continues to discriminate against the LGBT community. It’s time for legislators to step up and fully repeal HB2 with no strings or…

During the NCGA’s December power grab, they passed an unconstitutional bill that requires confirmation hearings for Gov. Cooper’s appointments. Cooper filed a lawsuit challenging HB17, and now a superior court has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the legislature from implementing the law. A full hearing will take place on Friday.  From Policy Watch: During…

The last few weeks of 2016 saw a flurry of legislative activity that included undemocratic power grabs and the failure to repeal HB2. While the courts are still sorting out the mess that politicians created, we wanted to take a look back at the last few weeks of 2016. It all started when Pat McCrory…

The special legislative session next week is supposed to be focused on Hurricane Matthew relief. But McCrory has the potential to turn it into a session that also includes adding two new justices to the state Supreme Court in an undemocratic court-packing scheme. McCrory will be remembered for HB2 but he has a chance to end…

The Supreme Court is reviewing NC’s congressional districts because of racial gerrymandering. Justice Elena Kagan said Monday that redistricting based on politics is okay, but redistricting based on race is not. And the case will likely come down to the question: race or politics? The reality is that partisan redistricting is detrimental to democracy because…

Sen. Bob Rucho won’t say if lawmakers plan to add two more Republican justices to overturn control of the State Supreme Court RALEIGH — During a press conference on Wednesday, Sen. Bob Rucho refused to rule out the possibility that lawmakers will use the upcoming special session on hurricane relief to pack the State Supreme Court with…