Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017
Are North Carolina lawmakers injecting politics into the state's judicial branch? Guest host Michael Bitzer looks into efforts to change the courts.
Since Democrat Roy Cooper’s arrival at the governor’s mansion this year, the Republican General Assembly has gone about approving or proposing changes to North Carolina’s judicial branch.
It started with shrinking the state Court of Appeals, which prompted Cooper to sue the legislature. More recently, there have been proposals to redistrict the courts, shorten the terms of judges, and even rumblings of doing away with the election of judges and switch to appointing them.
Judges have criticized the changes, and have questioned if it's in response to the legislature's defeats in court.
Why the sudden – and swift – interest in the judiciary?
GUESTS
Melissa Boughton, courts and law reporter, NC Policy Watch (@mel_bough)
Bob Orr, former North Carolina Supreme Court justice (@JudgeBobOrr)
Rep. Scott Stone, North Carolina House of Representatives, District 105 - Mecklenburg (@scottdstone)
Chris Bonneau, associate professor of political science, University of Pittsburgh (@Bonneau_Says)