Lunch & Listen: Sen. Jay Chaudhuri on the special session and the GOP’s push...
The North Carolina House and Senate return to Raleigh at noon tomorrow for yet another special session. House Speaker Tim Moore has indicated they will try to cover a laundry list of issues in just a...
View ArticleBerger appoints mostly GOP committee to look at judicial reform, redistricting
Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, whose chief of staff has been pushing a “merit” judicial section plan, has named a majority Republican committee to review judicial reform and redistricting....
View ArticleNov. 15 Policy Watch luncheon to examine the war on the courts
Crucial Conversation – North Carolina’s independent judiciary: Will it survive the current partisan battle? Register here There is an unprecedented war underway over the future of the North Carolina’s...
View ArticleLegislative bill tracking: Former judge turned lawmaker keeping track of...
Trying to keep track of the major legislation over the last year that has been aimed at the judiciary? Look no further than Rep. Joe John (D-Wake), one of two lawmakers in the General Assembly who used...
View ArticleClass size fix rolls through Senate, but Democrats denounce “Frankenstein’s...
North Carolina senators took a key step in delivering long-sought relief on a class size mandate to the state’s public school districts Friday, but Democrats denounced the “Frankenstein’s monster” bill...
View ArticleToday’s “must read”: Progressives finally waking up to the Right’s assault on...
It’s undoubtedly come too late to prevent a lot of damage, but there are heartening signs that American progressives are finally, at long last, waking up to the nature of the existential fight in which...
View ArticleColumn: Following new lawsuit, it’s time for NC redistricting reform
Thomas Mills, a longtime political consultant and founder over at Politics NC, says he has a suggestion for North Carolina leaders, after government reform advocates and Democrats filed a new lawsuit...
View ArticleGovernment watchdog complaint: Did a state senator and a Superior Court judge...
Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Duplin, Johnston, Sampson A new complaint filed Friday with North Carolina election officials questions whether a powerful Republican state senator and a state Superior Court...
View ArticleA look back at some of the stories that mattered in 2018
In case you missed them, be sure to check out the following Policy Watch news stories from 2018: “Lawyers, guns and money”: Stories that mattered to North Carolina schools in 2018 The war on the...
View ArticleNC Supreme Court celebrates 200-year history
Members of the North Carolina Supreme Court gathered Monday for a bicentennial celebration. (Photo by Melissa Boughton) Giants of the legal profession gathered Monday to celebrate the North Carolina...
View ArticleUnderpaid au pair workers settle lawsuit for $65.5 million
Childcare workers who earn less than the minimum wage had a big win this month with the settlement of a lawsuit against 15 companies who recruited so-called au pairs from around the world. The former...
View ArticleReport: Trump filling up federal judiciary with clones of Mike Pence
President Donald Trump’s confirmed lifetime federal judges are overwhelmingly white men with records of opposing abortion, LGBTQ rights and voting rights, according to a new report. Jennifer Bendery...
View ArticleEditorial: Judges should toss the legislature’s gerrymandered Congressional...
Sen. Jerry Tillman No one will ever confuse our state legislators with cat burglars. Indeed, as a McClatchy editorial pointed out Tuesday, the N.C. General Assembly’s continued abuse of the map-making...
View ArticleN.C. Chief Justice issues emergency order mandating face masks in courthouses
Face masks will be required in all court facilities, according to an emergency order issued by N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley Thursday. The order comes as the state faces “catastrophic...
View ArticleCongresswoman Alma Adams: Barrett confirmation a danger to health care in...
As hearings began this week on the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, Congresswoman Alma Adams of North Carolina warned of grave consequences for health care and women’s...
View ArticleACLU: Proposed settlement could bring big and long overdue change to driver’s...
A few years’ back, a group of civil rights groups sued the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles over its longstanding practice of suspending the driver’s licenses of people who can’t afford the...
View ArticlePartisan gerrymandering will be North Carolina’s next big court battle
Breaking the Republicans’ veto-proof legislative majorities was the short game for North Carolina Democrats and many voting rights activists this year. Their long game? Ending partisan gerrymandering...
View ArticleBerger-Barringer controversy makes clear that NC should make its judicial...
Image: Adobe StockImage: Adobe Stock The justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court are currently debating how they should handle conflicts of interest. Indeed, two Republican justices are now the...
View ArticleUndermining a basic right: Republican politicians espouse a truly radical...
It’s a bedrock principle of American law that average people can vindicate their legal and constitutional rights in courts of law and have those courts compel or prevent acts of other branches of...
View ArticleState judges across the U.S. face growing GOP pushback against rulings in...
DORAL, FLORIDA- NOVEMBER 03: Victoria Ferrer, County Judge, working with the Miami-Dade County Canvassing Board uses a magnifying glass to inspect a Vote-by-Mail ballot for a valid signature at the...
View ArticleDurham District Attorney Satana DeBerry discusses improving public safety,...
Learn more in the District Attorney’s annual report. The post Durham District Attorney Satana DeBerry discusses improving public safety, gun violence and restorative justice appeared first on NC...
View ArticleDispatches from the North Carolina court system: A family apart
Chatham County Courthouse (Photo courtesy NC Courts)Chatham County Courthouse (Photo courtesy NC Courts) This is the first in an ongoing series about goings-on in county courthouses across the state....
View ArticleNC bail law leaves many criminal defendants facing a maddening Catch-22
The post NC bail law leaves many criminal defendants facing a maddening Catch-22 appeared first on NC Newsline.
View ArticleThe year ahead: Capital punishment and other criminal justice issues in North...
Photo courtesy NC DPS.NC’s execution chamber. (Photo courtesy NC Department of Public Safety.) One of the first things I did after starting at Policy Watch last summer was ask the Department of Public...
View ArticleNearly half of North Carolina’s counties are “legal deserts.” State budget...
Slide from Mary Pollard's presentation to the Governor's Crime Commission showing that most of North Carolina's attorneys are based in a handful of North Carolina's counties.Almost half of North...
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