VOLUME 1 ISSUE 36
|
WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2016
October surprise heading into the home stretch . . . FBI investigation resumes
CARLOS BARRIA | REUTERS
JONATHAN ERNST | REUTERS
FBI Director James Comey wrote a letter to lawmakers Friday announcing that the FBI will take “appropriate investigative steps” after more emails surfaced related to Clinton’s private server.
ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
★
North Carolina state of the courts
VOTE 2016
How we decide
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed for the first time to rule on transgender protections. A Virginia public school district is fighting to prevent a female-born transgender high school student from using the boys bathroom. The case will be one of the biggest of the court’s term. The justices agreed to hear the Gloucester County School Board’s appeal of a lower court’s April 19 ruling that transgender students are protected under U.S. laws barring sex-based discrimination. The case involves a 17-year-old transgender student named Gavin Grimm, who is biologically female but identifies as male. Grimm is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in the lawsuit. The death of Antonin Scalia raises the possibility of a 4-4 ruling along ideological lines that would leave in place the decision favoring Grimm by the Richmond-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. A 4-4 ruling would set no nationwide legal precedent. The issue of transgender persons and public restrooms has become the latest flashpoint in North Carolina since House Bill 2 was signed into law in March, requiring people to use bathrooms that corresponded to the sex listed on their birth certificate in government buildings and public schools. The law was in response to a Charlotte
In part four of our election series, the North State Journal looks at the role of the legal system in shaping key issues of the election. The courts have been a political battleground this year in North Carolina. Major decisions in trial and appeals courts at the state and federal level are putting a spotlight on judicial candidates, their positions and their endorsements. This year’s landmark rulings on key issues from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court will impact the agenda and bills in the legislative session due to get underway in just 12 weeks. But in just 12 days, N.C. voters will decide whether to re-elect Republican Justice Bob Edmunds, endorsed by 97 of the state’s 100 sheriffs, or bring in his challenger, Democratic Judge Mike Morgan, who has been endorsed by President Barack Obama. The voters’ decision will determine the balance of power on the N.C. Supreme Court that is already ideologically divided.
city ordinance that imposed penalties for businesses that didn’t allow individuals to use the bathroom of their choice. Supporters say the law protects women and children from predators who might abuse the ordinance to gain entrance to private facilities; opponents say it discriminates against transgender people. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against H.B. 2 on behalf of two students and a UNC employee. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of N.C. imposed an injunction, but only for the three plaintiffs, until it can be heard in court in May 2017. The U.S. Supreme Court justices also announced Friday they will take on a North Carolina case of testing free speech rights in the digital age, agreeing to decide whether a state law banning convicted sex offenders from Facebook and similar sites violates the Constitution. The justices agreed to hear sex offender Lester Packingham’s appeal of his conviction for violating the state law in 2010 with a Facebook post. An intermediate appeals court threw out the conviction, saying it violated the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of free speech. The state Supreme Court reversed that decision last November, ruling in part that Packingham’s free speech rights were not unduly burdened because there are ample other websites he could access. A group of First Amendment lawyers are arguing that social media sites are indispensable places for online speech.
Justice for Victims The state’s crime lab has been a hot topic on the campaign trail. How long are victims and families waiting for closure and why? Story on page A2
CHRISTINE T. NGUYEN | NORTH STATE JOURNAL
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
By Donna King North State Journal
R
ALEIGH — The battle for North Carolina has been fought this year in rallies across the state, on television in expertly produced ads, on the streets of Charlotte, but most of all in courtrooms. Lawsuits have dominated headlines and talking points in the state and national campaigns. On the U.S. Supreme Court, the death of Antonin Scalia in February left just eight justices split along ideological lines, 4 to 4. Deciding who will fill that ninth seat is a big issue for many voters. But decisions with the biggest impact on the state this year have come from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of N.C. in Winston-Salem because of repeated disagreements over policy and legal responsibilities between Gov. Pat McCrory and his Democratic challenger for governor, sitting Attorney General Roy Cooper. Cooper and his supporters are focusing on lawsuits and decisions in the fight over redistricting, voter ID laws and H.B. 2 to paint McCrory as a far-right extremist. Meanwhile, McCrory supporters are pointing to Cooper’s refusal to defend legislation passed by the elected legislature saying he neglected his duties as attorney general. They also point to the years-long backlogs at the state crime lab, a facility run by Cooper’s Department of Justice during his 15 years as attorney general. Republican and Democratic groups nationwide are eyeing these controversial cases, and candidates, and seeing an opportunity to capture a key battleground state for their party. Beyond that, the cases have drawn out fundamental disputes about the core values and political motives of candidates and their parties, but also about the role of dark money and outside-the-state influences on North Carolina elections. As voters head to the polls and consider the economy, their access to health care, the education of their children, their safety and the quality of the state’s infrastructure, these cases may also have an impact on how they decide.
The court is set to hear oral arguments on both cases and issue rulings by the end of June.
N.C. has the eighth-most illegal immigrants with 350,000 undocumented people, many brought here as children. One program for the 40,000 DACA people is getting them into the hightech job market. Story on Page A3 EAMON QUEENEY | NORTH STATE JOURNAL
inside the section How our state’s legal system came to be and four influential cases that shape N.C. Turn to the map on Murphy to Manteo, Page 4-5
IN SPORTS Both the Big Four and Core Four are loaded in basketball this year.
Page B4-5
8
JOURNaL
By Donna King North State Journal
$2.00
STATE
SCOTUS to hear transgender case, NC digital speech appeal
20177 52016
NORTH
See INVESTIGATION, page A8
5
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to a Winston-Salem campaign rally accompanied by first lady Michelle Obama Oct. 27, the day before the FBI announced they will revisit the email investigation.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With just 11 days to go until the election, FBI Director James Comey announced Friday that he is re-opening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails and private server. “In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation...The FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation,” said Comey in a letter to lawmakers. According to the New York Times the unrelated case is the investigation into illicit text messages former Congressman Anthony Weiner sent to an underage girl from North Carolina. The FBI confiscated electronic devices