Separation of powers: Cooper v. Berger I

Case name: Cooper v. Berger I

What it's about: Separation of powers

State or federal court: State, N.C. Supreme Court

Summary: In December 2016, state lawmakers passed a pair of bills limiting Gov. Roy Cooper's appointment powers. One measure merged the state Board of Elections and state Ethics Commission into a single panel and rewrote appointment rules for the combined agency. A separate bill limited Cooper's ability to make appointments to political jobs and required his cabinet secretaries undergo Senate confirmation. Cooper filed a lawsuit that challenges parts of both laws, saying they violate the separation of legislative and executive powers called for in the state constitution.

In the real world: The merger of the ethics and elections panels is complete in name only, with nobody appointed to the board – or to fill vacancies on county elections boards – until the lawsuit is resolved. Meanwhile, Cooper has appointed his cabinet, and the Senate easily confirmed all 10 members.

Where it stands: A three-judge panel ruled in March 2017 that the ethics and election merger and the reduction in the number of at-will employees in Cooper's administration were unconstitutional, but it upheld the legality of Senate confirmation of cabinet secretaries. Lawmakers subsequently passed new legislation to address the judges' concerns about the elections-ethics combination, and Cooper filed a second lawsuit over it. This time, however, judges ruled in lawmakers' favor, and Cooper appealed to the Supreme Court. The state Court of Appeals also upheld the cabinet confirmation process, and that is on appeal as well.