NC legislature may require more transparency from state Supreme Court, Senate leader says

North Carolina legislators are mulling a new law requiring state Supreme Court justices to sign court orders by name so that the public knows how each justice decided an issue, Senate Republican leader Phil Berger said Thursday.

Final decisions in cases that come before the high court are often accompanied by signed opinions laying out what the justices think, but some orders are simply issued “for the court” and signed only by the most junior justice.

Berger, the Senate president pro tem, told reporters Thursday that he’s talked to other state lawmakers about requiring more information from the court, and that a bill could move as soon as January.

“Judges ought to be willing to sign off, with their name, on the orders that they’ve entered, and articulate a reason for those orders,” said Berger, R-Rockingham.

Such a law would likely also include the North Carolina Court of Appeals, Berger said. Details aren’t set, and Berger said there likely are decisions to be had about which orders are included. He said he was “certainly in favor” of discussing this as the legislature gathers next month and that the general assembly would “hopefully be in a position to move a bill.”

Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, who like Berger is a lawyer, said Democrats are willing to have this discussion.

“At the same time, I think one could say that [Republicans are] injecting politics into the process, given the fact that I’m sure the governing majority is not happy with the order” delaying the election, said Chaudhuri, D-Wake.

A spokesman for the state Supreme Court, which has a 4-3 majority in favor of Democrats, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Berger called the court’s decision to delay the primaries “a very unusual circumstance.”

“It just cries out for transparency,” he said. “And the fact that they would be willing to make those substantial changes … and not sign their name to it is problematic at a minimum.”