GOP-LED NC SUPREME COURT
WILL” REHEAR” VOTING RIGHTS
CASES IN MARCH
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
In the recent words of one North Carolina civil rights attorney, “The carnage at the NC Supreme Court has begun!!!”
The 5-2 Republican majority state Supreme Court began hearing arguments last week, and according to observers, there are strong indications that the High Court is prepared to erase several of the important decisions made by the Democrat 4-3 majority court last term.
In his recent analysis of the new Republican court majority, Irving Joyner, professor of law at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham said, “We can expect this newly minted North Carolina Supreme Court to reverse the recent voting rights and voter protection opinions which were recently decided by that Court. These political motivated reversals will be unprecedented in North Carolina law and cement the present Supreme Court, which will be in power for the next eight years, as a tool of right-wing conservative forces.
On Friday, against established precedent, the new GOP majority court voted to rehear two important voting rights cases already decided just a few months prior because Republican legislative leaders petitioned the court to do so.
The first to be reheard will be Holmes v. Moore, where the Democrat-led High Court on Dec. 16th decided to strike down the 2018 voter I.D. law passed by the Republican-led NC General Assembly because it was ruled racially discriminatory and thus, unconstitutional.
Observers say after rehearing arguments next month, expect the new state Supreme Court to rule that the 2018 voter ID is not racially discriminatory primarily because Republican legislative leaders say it isn’t.
Expect the same predicted outcome by the High Court after rehearing Harper v. Hall in March, where on Dec. 16th, the Democrat-led court agreed with plaintiffs that the second version of a 2020 congressional redistricting map, in addition to the state Senate voting map, “…violates the state’s constitutional guarantees of free, fair and honest elections, equal protection under the law , freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly “
The two African-American associate justices left on the NC Supreme Court now, Anita Earls and Michael Morgan, made clear in their written descents that rehearing the cases was highly improper, and smacked of politics.
“The allowance of this extraordinary remedy to petitioners in this case, under the existent circumstances, may serve to foment concerns that North Carolina’s highest state court is engaged in the determination of challenging and legitimate legal disputes with a perceived desire to reach outcomes which are inconsistent with this Court’s well-established principles of adherence to legal precedent, stare decisis, and the rule of law,” wrote Justice Morgan.
Justice Earls was also not pleased with the prospect of rehearing cases.
“The majority’s order fails to acknowledge the radical break with 205 years of history that the decision to rehear this case represents,” Earls wrote. “It has long been the practice of this Court to respect precedent and the principle that once the Court has ruled, that ruling will not be disturbed merely because of a change in the Court’s composition.”
“Indeed, data from the Supreme Court’s electronic filing system indicate that, since January 1993, a total of 214 petitions for rehearing have been filed, but rehearing has been allowed in only two cases,” she added. “It has been the understood practice of this Court that rehearing is not allowed solely because a Justice may have had a change of heart after the opinion in the case has been issued or because an opinion was controversial.”
However, Republican justices on the court saw no problem with the GOP petitions for rehearing the cases. All parties are now required to file briefs in preparation for March 14th rehearings.
Meanwhile, the Republican-led High Court heard arguments in two other cases of particular interest to African-Americans.
On Feb. 2, justices heard arguments in Community Success Initiative v. Moore, where Republican justices insisted that ex-felons can only earn back their voting rights as prescribed by an old 1970s law, a law that critics maintain was based on the intent to disenfranchise African-Americans from their voting rights and should be deemed unconstitutional.
A ruling is expected on that case shortly.
And yesterday, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of prosecutors using race as a tool to eliminate Black prospective jurors from capital cases where Blacks are the defendants, in an effort to convict with an all-white jury.
Prof. Joyner says the new High Court is about to turn the clock back on hard fought for gains by African Americans.
“The newly constructed Supreme Court is in place today because African Americans, racial minorities and many other progressive voters failed to fully participate in the 2022 elections,” Joyner says. “When you don’t vote, you get the government that other people wish to be in control. As a result, efforts to protect civil and political rights will be more difficult than it has been since 1900 when “Jim Crow” forces seized control of all branches of the North Carolina government. “
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BEING BLACK IS BACK UNDER
ATTACK; WHAT’S BEING DONE
by Cash Michaels
An analysis
The cry from High Point College Republicans (HPCR) was compelling.
The university had cancelled their scheduled big movie event. They were allegedly receiving threats of violence from classmates because of it.
The HPCR say they just wanted to contribute to a peaceful atmosphere of dialogue and discussion on campus by sponsoring the film.
On the face of it, one would naturally feel sorry for these college students….that is until you dig deeper, and discover that their cancelled movie event was a film by black conservative firebrand Candace Owens titled “The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM (Black Lives Matter).”
The school reportedly cancelled the screening because the HPCR allegedly did not have the proper permission to publicly show it. It just came out last October.
The fact that conservative students at High Point University thought it would be fine to promote a controversial film that has the words “greatest lie,” “George Floyd” and “BLM” in its title, understandably upset and provoked some Black students on campus, thus the threats.
But that’s just indicative of some of the political attacks that continue to be made on the Black community by conservative politicians and opinion-makers seeking to gin up their base as we head towards the 2024 elections.
Indeed, what happened in 2020-21 is also instructive.
Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones was initially denied a tenured position in the UNC Hussman Journalism School because of her work with the award winning NY Times 1619 Project. Conservatives in Congress also sought to ban the teaching of the 1619 Project from the nation’s schools.
After losing his reelection, then President Donald Trump claimed unproven voter fraud mostly in Black voting areas of Georgia and Pennsylvania. When his efforts failed, on January 6, 2021, hundreds of pro-Trump white supremacist rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol, hoping to disrupt the certification of Trump’s loss, and overturn the election.
In the meantime, communities across the country were embroiled in heated debates over the teaching of critical race theory, a college-level course of study that many white parents were misled to believe was being taught to middle and high schoolers.
Those events set the predicate for today, where a legislative aide to NC House Speaker Tim Moore had to be terminated after his “pro-white” background was revealed; two school districts in Alabama canceled Black History Month activities that featured NY Times bestselling children’s author Derrick Barnes; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a rumored 2024 Republican presidential hopeful, just prohibited the teaching of the Advance Placement African American studies course in his state, saying that it lacked educational value, and would indoctrinate, instead of educate students.
Civil rights Attorney Benjamin Crump, under the banner of “Stop the Black attack,” threatened to sue Gov. DeSantis and the state of Florida if he doesn’t allow the AP African American Studies course to be taught in Florida classrooms.
According to the Associated Press, “Florida is hoping its strict law regulating how race, gender, and sexuality are taught in school will soon be applied to students nationwide…”
Leon Russell, chairman of the national NAACP Board of Directors, called Gov. DeSantis’ actions the “politics of hatred and atheism,” adding, “We will not allow public officials to rip our part of American history out of textbooks, out of the classroom and out of the mouths of teachers.”
Black lawmakers in Congress also aren’t standing for the current onslaught on African-American people or their history.
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Tx) reintroduced her “Leading Against White Supremacy Act,” which, if passed, would, “ prevent and prosecute white supremacy inspired hate crime and conspiracy to commit white supremacy inspired hate crime.”
Two of Jackson-Lee’s colleagues are demanding that African-American history not be diminished.
“Black history is American history, and it is under unprecedented attack,” Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said after reintroducing a bill titled “the Black History is American History Act.” on Feb. 1st. “Black history is crucial to understanding the complexity of our nation’s past, present and future — not just slavery and civil rights. By incentivizing schools and educators to teach Black history in the classroom, we can all learn important lessons in our country’s ongoing journey toward creating a ‘more perfect Union’ for all Americans.”
“Black History is more important than ever,” echoed Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC-12) during remarks on the floor of the U.S. House February 1st. “If it weren’t so important, they wouldn’t try and stop us from teaching it.”
“We can’t afford to remove critical thinking from our curriculum,” Rep. Adams continued. “Our students won’t understand American history without understanding African American history - and those who don’t understand history are doomed to repeat it. That is why this February, all Americans must recommit to teaching Black history in our homes, in our schools, in our churches, on TV, on Twitter, and yes, even in the halls of Congress.”
“We must be unafraid to “say Black” and teach our history and heritage,” Adams, who says she believes every month should be Black History Month, continued. “Because if we don’t remember The Greensboro Four, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King, John Lewis, Hattie McDaniel, Frederick Douglass, Harriett and Dred Scott, Nat Turner, Harriett Tubman, and countless others, someday, somewhere, someone will have to endure what they endured to win yet again the rights and respect they fought for.”
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