The MAGA-dominated North Carolina Supreme Court Republican party has sparked a major constitutional crisis by blocking the certification of Justice Allison Riggs’ Nov. 5 re-election victory in a highly contested race for a seat on the Court.
Riggs, a Democrat and incumbent appointed to the Court in 2023, was initially declared the winner by a narrow margin of 734 votes following multiple recounts. Over 5.5 million voters cast ballots in the election.
Since the election, Republicans have sought to overturn the results. The plot to steal the seat involves throwing out thousands of votes and installing her Republican opponent, Judge Jefferson Griffin.
Griffin has challenged the validity of approximately 66,000 ballots, citing bogus issues
such as incomplete voter registration and absentee ballots lacking photo ID.
The North Carolina Board of Elections, with a Democratic majority, rejected Griffin’s challenges on Dec. 11. The case then went to a federal judge appointed by Trump, who sent it back to the state court for consideration.
The action is the latest in a long history of lawless attempts by North Carolina Republicans to impose one-party rule. Following the Nov. 5 election, GOP supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature passed a law stripping Democratic Governor-elect Josh Stein of his powers, including his ability to appoint members to the state election board. Republicans then overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) veto.
Republicans passed legislation to strip Cooper of power after he narrowly won in 2016. This included cutting the number of positions under the governor, requiring all cabinet nominations to be approved by the Senate, and limiting appointments to the state Board of Education and North Carolina University Board of Trustees.
Following the election of a Republican majority in the Supreme Court in 2022, Republican legislators adopted some of the nation’s most extremely gerrymandered congressional and legislative maps in 2023. The new maps give them legislative supermajorities and most Congressional seats despite North Carolina being a closely divided “purple state.”
Griffin argues that the challenged ballots, including some from military members, violate state and federal election laws and requested that the Court throw them out. Riggs, who recused herself from the Supreme Court decision, blasted Griffin’s efforts to disenfranchise voters and overturn the election results.
Justice Anita Earls, the lone Democrat on the Court, stated that “the standard for a temporary stay has not been met here,” adding that “there is no likelihood of success on the merits and the public interest requires that the Court not interfere with the ordinary course of democratic processes as set by statute and the state constitution.”
The State Board of Elections and federal courts have dismissed Griffin’s challenges, asserting that the ballots in question comply with election laws. However, Griffin continues to appeal these decisions, prompting the state Supreme Court to block certification.
The North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) argues that the challenges are baseless and criticized the state Supreme Court’s decision, arguing that it is a partisan tactic to reverse the outcome of a legitimate election.
“In what has become a monthslong, anti-democratic campaign at taxpayers’ expense against Justice Allison Riggs – who was found to be the clear winner of North Carolina’s November state Supreme Court election by two separate recounts – the Republican-led North Carolina Supreme Court is now attempting to give itself sole power to decide its next member rather than the North Carolina voters who unquestionably elected Justice Riggs,” said North Carolina Democratic State Chair Anderson Clayton.
“Make no mistake – these craven attacks on North Carolina voters are an affront to this country’s foundational values of democracy and the rule of law. One day after the fourth anniversary of Jan. 6, Republicans are once again attempting to overturn an election in plain sight.”
Labor and civil rights organizations have responded strongly to the North Carolina Supreme Court’s intervention. They call the move a brazen attempt to dismantle democracy and impose GOP authoritarian rule in the state.
“Instead of gracefully conceding, her opponent, Jefferson Griffin, is attempting to throw out tens of thousands of votes – many of which were cast by members of our military – in an attempt to undermine our democratic process, said North Carolina State AFL-CIO President MaryBe McMillan.
“Every vote counts, and now that every ballot has been tallied multiple times, it is clear that Allison Riggs is the winner. It’s time for Judge Griffin to concede that he lost in a free and fair election.”
McMillan cited a previous election in which Chief Justice Cheri Beasley had to concede after losing by 401 votes in 2020.
Most of the votes Griffin wants the Court to reject come from voter registrations that lack the last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number or driver’s license number. However, excluding these votes on this basis would violate federal law. Besides, Griffin has provided no evidence the voters are ineligible to vote.
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