A Wake County court found a requirement that the North Carolina governor fill vacancies on the state’s higher courts with member of the same party as their predecessor unconstitutional in a ruling Tuesday.
The decision marks a partial victory for Gov. Josh Stein, who sued over provisions of Senate Bill 382 — a measure approved by the GOP-dominated General Assembly shortly after last fall’s election that sough to limit gubernatorial powers. A panel of the Wake Superior Court ruled in his favor on judicial appointments, but against him on a provision removing his ability to appoint a member and the chair of the North Carolina Utilities Commission. The court also upheld a separate law reducing Stein’s power over the Building Code Council by requiring supermajority votes for any action.
The three-judge panel was made up of James Floyd Ammons, Jr., A. Graham Shirley, and Imelda J. Pate — an Independent, Republican, and Democrat, respectively. The law would have helped Republicans maintain dominant majorities on the state Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, where they control 12 of 15 seats and five of seven seats, respectively.
Stein lost two challenges to other provisions of SB 382 earlier this year, with a Wake Superior Court panel ruling against him on a section of the bill removing the State Highway Patrol from his authority and a Court of Appeals panel denying his effort to retain oversight of the State Board of Elections, despite a Superior Court ruling in his favor.
Stein posted a reaction to the ruling on his personal account on the social media platform X expressing a mixed reaction:
“The court’s decision supporting the Governor’s authority to make judicial vacancies maintains our state’s separation of powers. The court should have followed those same principles in its ruling on the Utilities Commission and Building Code Council, and I’m disappointed it did not.
Utility costs are rising, and heat waves like this week prove the importance of our state’s diverse energy mix and clean energy economy. As our state legislature and our federal government both seek to roll back our clean energy future, North Carolina families will be the ones who foot the bill.”
State Treasurer Brad Briner, who received appointment power to the Utilities Commission in place of Stein, praised the Superior Court for upholding his new authority. In April, he named former environment secretary and climate change skeptic Donald van der Vaart to the board.
“This decision affirms that the governor does not have ultimate authority over other duly elected members of the Council of State to carry out their roles and responsibilities as members of the executive branch,” he said. “The judges, to their credit, carefully reviewed the matter, and properly found that the General Assembly is not prohibited from empowering the treasurer to appoint a member to the Utilities Commission.”
Tuesday’s decision is likely to be appealed to the state Court of Appeals, which has shown a greater willingness to support Republican efforts to tighten control of the judiciary, such as when it backed Judge Jefferson Griffin’s challenge to the state Supreme Court race.
Read Tuesday’s decision here:
Wake Superior Court – SB 382 Decision Read More Details
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