Cooper, GOP lawmakers back in court on altered amendments
• Legal Business updated  2018/09/04 23:30
• Legal Business updated  2018/09/04 23:30
Gov. Roy Cooper is seeking to persuade a judicial panel a second time to keep questions for two proposed amendments to the North Carolina Constitution off the November ballot.
Attorneys for the Democratic governor and Republican lawmakers are expected in a Raleigh courtroom Friday, when three trial judges will hear arguments on Cooper's request to block those amendments.
A majority on this same judicial panel last week prevented referendums for two previous versions of the amendments the General Assembly approved from going on ballots. That prompted GOP legislators to submit slightly different amendments and questions. Cooper argues those questions are misleading to the public, like the earlier ones.
The amendments would swing control over judicial vacancies and state election board membership from the governor to the legislature.