Cooper, Stein slam legislature: Black North Carolinians 'repeatedly targeted by discriminatory laws'
When state Senate leaders redrew their own districts this year, for use in the 2024 elections and beyond, it was just the latest in a long line of efforts to harm Black political power in North Carolina, two of the state's top leaders said in a court filing Tuesday.
Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein, both Democrats who oppose the new Republican-drawn voting districts, filed a brief Tuesday in the racial gerrymandering case challenging the new Senate map. They want it blocked, which would require quick action by a federal judge: The 2024 primary election is in March, and candidate filing ends this week.
The Black voters who are bringing the lawsuit recently failed to convince the judge to hold a hearing where he could consider maybe blocking the maps. Judge James Dever, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, said he didn't appreciate them trying to direct his schedule. So now Cooper and Stein are weighing in on their behalf, hoping their names add some weight to the request.
"In recent years, Black North Carolinians have been repeatedly targeted by discriminatory laws making it harder for them to vote and exercise their political rights," Cooper and Stein wrote.
They added: "The new Senate districts will have the effect of preventing Black voters in northeastern North Carolina from electing candidates of their choice. Because these districts clearly violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the Governor and the Attorney General respectfully request that this Court grant Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. They also respectfully request that this Court do so promptly, so that no elections are held under the illegal districts enacted by the legislature."
Their brief went on to accuse GOP state legislators of taking numerous actions in recent years to intentionally discriminate against Black voters, continuing a shameful history of race relations in North Carolina.
"North Carolina’s history is replete with examples of discrimination against Black North Carolinians, stretching back to the State’s founding and continuing to the present," they wrote. "... In recent years, Black North Carolinians have been repeatedly targeted by discriminatory laws making it harder for them to vote and exercise their political rights."
A spokesperson for Senate leader Phil Berger said legislative staff and their private attorneys for the redistricting case were still reviewing Tuesday's brief and weren't immediately ready to comment on it.
But in general, legislative leaders have routinely dismissed claims of racism guiding their actions. Such claims are false and politically motivated, they've said — even when coming from judges rather than fellow politicians.
One of the examples Cooper and Stein cited Tuesday is a 2013 law that attempted to make a number of changes related to rules requiring voter identification at the polls, early voting and more. Evidence at trial showed that state lawmakers obtained data showing a racial breakdown of which types of people had which types of IDs, or when they voted during early voting, and then used that information to ban only what was most favored by Black voters. The law was needed, they told the public, to stop possible voter fraud.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down the law in 2016, saying it was racially motivated, targeting Black voters "with almost surgical precision." The court said it was "as close to a smoking gun as we are likely to see in modern times" of evidence of racially motivated public policy.
Republican leaders reacted angrily, accusing the judges who wrote that ruling of possibly trying to help rig the 2016 election against Donald Trump and other Republicans.
"We can only wonder if the intent is to reopen the door for voter fraud, potentially allowing fellow Democrat politicians like Hillary Clinton and Roy Cooper to steal the election," House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger said in a joint statement after that 2016 ruling.
However, the decision by those judges stood. The U.S. Supreme Court — although led by a Republican majority — declined in 2017 to take up the case at all.
Stein and Cooper both refused to defend the state in that lawsuit; Cooper when he was attorney general in 2016 and Stein when he took over in 2017.
Republican leaders blasted them at the time for failing to carry out their duties as the top lawyer for the state.
But Stein, who is now running to succeed Cooper as governor, has campaigned on his refusal to defend the state in that case, saying he'd keep standing up for voting rights if elected governor.
Stein formally filed his papers to run for governor Tuesday just hours before he and Cooper filed the brief in the redistricting lawsuit. At the filing, Stein told reporters that because of gerrymandered maps Republicans are likely to continue to win majorities in the legislature, so he wants to be governor to block them from carrying out the more extreme parts of their agenda.
"Having a governor with a veto is key," Stein said. "Just to restore a balance to state government. We can't have one party making all the decisions."
