Rachel Jordan protests outside the House gallery during a special session of the North Carolina General Assembly at the Legislative Building in Raleigh, Dec. 16, 2016. Ethan Hyman \/ AP <\/p>\n
But civil liberty experts say North Carolina has been unique in the breadth and scope of what they call its restrictive legislation. <\/p>\n
\"North Carolina Republicans, I think its fair to say, have gone further than their counterparts in any other state in using their total control over state government to manipulate election rules in such a way as to advantage their own party,\" says Zachary Roth, former national correspondent for MSNBC.com and author of \"The Great Suppression: Voting Rights, Corporate Cash, and the Conservative Assault on Democracy.\" \"Weve seen that in a number of states, but North Carolina Republicans have been the most brazen and aggressive about it.\" <\/p>\n
Despite being rebuffed by the courts on legislation ranging from <\/p>\n
Republicans still hold all the cards, said Bob Phillips, executive director of the nonpartisan group Common Cause North Carolina. These court decisions are not deterring them at all, theyre just pivoting. <\/p>\n
With a supermajority in the legislature, Republicans can pass laws without a single Democratic vote. Because of this, substantial and consequential laws are being decided not on the assembly floor, but in the courtroom. <\/p>\n
And as the state wages these lengthy court battles, the taxpayers are left footing this ever-rising bill. <\/p>\n
As of November 2016, North Carolina Republican lawmakers had spent more than $10.5 million litigating controversial laws since coming to power in 2011, <\/p>\n
Almost half that money $4.9 million went to defend the states sweeping voter law, which was overturned by a panel of federal of judges. On May 15, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the states appeal. Lawmakers spent an additional $3.7 million defending the redistricting plans that were also overturned by the courts. <\/p>\n
As the legislature proposes <\/p>\n
For those of us that live in the state, this is sad because thats money that might have gone to public education or other things that are important to the citizens of North Carolina, says Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But the state legislature obviously doesnt seem to care. Theyre continuing to try and press their claims, or defend against their claims, and the cost just doesnt seem to be a factor. <\/p>\n
Advocacy groups worry that North Carolina could set a dangerous precedent for rest of the country if this rule-until-the-courts-intervene style of governance continues. <\/p>\n
I fear that once we start going down that path of allowing temporary legislative majorities to change the rules to entrench their power and benefit themselves in a variety of ways, regardless of what the people want, that it will snowball, Weiser said. <\/p>\n
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Civil Liberty Groups Decry North Carolina's Restrictive Laws Push - NBCNews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rachel Jordan protests outside the House gallery during a special session of the North Carolina General Assembly at the Legislative Building in Raleigh, Dec. Continue reading