Last month, the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed two decisions it had handed down less than a year ago that invalidated the state’s voter ID law and congressional districts as unconstitutional. These reversals came after two new conservative justices ascended to the bench in January following the 2022 election. Less than two months later, in an exceedingly rare move, the newly configured majority agreed to rehear both cases. On a single day, the Court granted as many rehearings as it had in the past 20 years. This shift in the court’s balance of power dissolved its 4–3 Democratic majority and heralded a new conservative era.
On April 28, the reconstituted court reversed its decision in Holmes v. Moore, restoring the state’s voter ID law, S.B. 824. The court retreated from its initial decision, concluding that the law does not produce a racially discriminatory impact and was not enacted with a racially invidious purpose. Writing for the majority, Justice Phil Berger resurrected many of the arguments laid out in his prior dissent. However, the court went further in two notable ways: it adopted a significant change to the standard of proof used to discern discriminatory intent under the state constitution, and it embraced a highly deferential review of legislative acts and presumption of legislative good faith.
First, the majority abandoned the Arlington Heights evidentiary framework, which had long been used by the court to evaluate equal protection challenges to...
The U.S. Department of Justice said certain candidates were highlighted to leadership and directed into a “pipeline” due to their race and sex characteristics. Dive Brief: Management and technolog...