Cooper expands challenge to new state laws

The Senate confirmation provision "is an unprecedented attempt by the General Assembly to limit the Governor's authority to appoint the people he selects who share his 'views and priorities' and who will faithfully execute the laws," according to the lawsuit.

The state constitution does allow for such confirmations, but the Senate has rarely exercised the power. Cooper's attorneys argue in the lawsuit that the confirmations were never meant for the heads of state agencies, only for constitutional officers.

Lawmakers granted McCrory up to 1,500 managerial and policy-making positions in state government exempt from civil service laws for his political appointments, but they cut that to 425 before Cooper took office. People in those other positions would become career government employees under the law and couldn't be removed by the Cooper administration without cause.

"By attempting to accord career status to state employees who were previously designated as key policymakers and key managers in the prior administration, the General Assembly has, in effect, substituted its judgment for the Governor's in terms of who should make and execute the policy of the executive branch of state government," the lawsuit states. "That leaves the Governor with little control over the views and priorities of the key employees within the executive branch and allows the General Assembly to exert too much control over the determination and implementation of executive policy. That violates the separation of powers."

Before they adjourned their special legislative session on Dec. 16, lawmakers approved McCrory's appointment of Yolanda Stith, the wife of McCrory chief of staff Thomas Stith, to a lengthy term on the Industrial Commission, which handles workers compensation cases and tort claims against the state. Normally, the appointment would have been until 2019, when the term of the seat, which had been vacant, expires. But lawmakers added another six years to the term.

"There is no explanation or indication in the language of Senate Bill 4 why the General Assembly believed the appointee was entitled to a unique nine-year term on the Industrial Commission or how doing so would advance our State's general welfare," the lawsuit argues.