RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — Governor Roy Cooper sued the State of North Carolina, the President Pro Tempore of the North Carolina Senate and the Speaker of the North Carolina House, claiming that the North Carolina General Assembly limited his constitutional duties as governor and violated the constitutional separation of powers.
In a suit filed Tuesday, the Democratic governor said that the General Assembly shows “flagrant disregard” for constitutional principles and established precedents.
“Like Gollum reaching for the One Ring, legislative defendants are possessed by the power it brings. When it comes to seizing control of the enforcement of the state’s election laws, neither the clear rulings of the Supreme Court, nor the overwhelming vote of the people, will deter them,” Cooper said in the suit.
Last week, the primarily Republican general assembly overturned five of Cooper’s vetoes and passed the bills into law. One piece of legislation — Session Law 2023-136, formerly Senate Bill 512 — reappointed power previously allocated to the governor and shifted it to the Legislature. It took Cooper’s appointment power away and reallocated it to various boards, including the Board of Transportation and the Utilities Commission.
Session Law 2023-139, previously Senate Bill 749, also removed Cooper’s ability to fill positions on the Board of Elections, which had five seats, and instead granted that ability to Speaker of the House of Representatives Philip Berger, President Pro Tempore of the Senate Timothy Moore, and the minority leaders of the House and Senate.
Legislators and citizens had voiced concerns that an even-numbered board of elections would deadlock over disagreements.
“The deadlocks that will be created on these new Boards of Elections at the state and local levels likely will reduce early voting and create longer lines at the polls. It will also undermine fair elections and faith in our democracy by sending disputes to our highly partisan legislature and courts,” Cooper said in a Tuesday statement. “Both the courts and the people have rejected this bad idea and the meaning of our Constitution doesn’t change just because the Supreme Court has new Justices. The Supreme Court should accept the clear precedent and the clear voice of the people and reject the Legislature’s latest attempt to control the election process.”
A 2018 constitutional amendment proposed to voters had sought to create a bipartisan board of elections, restricting the number of appointees by the governor to two and reducing the board to four seats. North Carolina voters voted against the amendment in the 2018 election.
Cooper argues that the State Board of Elections is an executive branch agency and that the responsibilities of the election boards are not related to legislative function, nor are they the responsibility of the Legislature.
“Disregarding the North Carolina Supreme Court (strike one) and the people of North Carolina (strike two), the General Assembly has once again swung and missed in its attempt to exert unconstitutional control over the execution of the laws relating to elections. Defendants’ third strike should be their last,” Cooper wrote.
The governor said that this interferes with his ability to ensure that election-related laws are correctly enforced, which is his constitutional responsibility. With the passing of Session Law 2023-139, the governor has also lost the ability to select, supervise and remove members of the Board of Elections.
Cooper also claims that the General Assembly’s recent bills allow them to take “too much control” over a board that has executive authority, which violates the separation of power between the three branches.
Berger and Moore did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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