Good morning! ☀️ Here’s what you need to know today about North Carolina politics from our team and correspondent Stephanie Loder.
DECISION IN LAWSUIT OVER PROVISIONS OF NC’S ABORTION LAW EXPECTED NEXT WEEK
A federal judge is preparing to make a final ruling on two provisions of North Carolina’s new abortion law, which have been challenged in court and temporarily blocked since last year.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles heard arguments Wednesday from attorneys representing Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which filed the lawsuit challenging the Republican Party’s 12-week abortion ban last June; the NC Department of Justice; and Republican legislative leaders, who intervened in the case to defend the new law.
Eagles told attorneys at the start of Wednesday’s hearing in Greensboro that she wanted to determine whether a trial later this summer was necessary.
A trial was scheduled for July 22, but Eagles indicated at the end of the hearing that she expected to make a ruling in the coming days and that a trial would not be necessary.
The two provisions in question have not been able to come into effect since September last year, when Eagles issued a preliminary injunction.
The first provision requires that all abortions performed after twelve weeks of pregnancy take place in a hospital. The second provision being challenged requires doctors to document the existence of an intrauterine pregnancy, early in pregnancy, before prescribing abortion pills to a patient.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs, Planned Parenthood and Dr. Beverly Graya Duke OB-GYN, has asked Eagles to permanently block the provisions, arguing that they are unconstitutionally vague and place unnecessary requirements on women seeking second-trimester abortions.
Lawyers representing Republican Party legislative leaders rejected claims that the wording of the intrauterine pregnancy requirement was vague, saying lawmakers had the right to require second-trimester abortions, which can be riskier. are carried out in hospitals.
Eagles told lawyers she could make a decision as early as Monday.
– Avi Bajpai
HOUSE REGULATIONS BILL ALLOWING PROPERTIES to kick out squatters
A bill that should make it easier for property owners to so-called “squatters” With the help of law enforcement officials, the case was brought up in a House committee on Wednesday.
House Bill 984 requires law enforcement officers to remove unauthorized people from the property within 48 hours of receiving a complaint from the property owner.
“There are clear examples of people trying to take property and saying it’s theirs when it’s not,” the Republican representative said. John Bradford, the bill’s sponsor said. “This bill creates a way to ensure that we have an expedited way to remove them.”
Under current civil procedure, there is no method for a property owner to request expedited removal of an unauthorized person who is on the property and who has never been a tenant of the property.
Because these cases must go through the courts and are subject to appeal, Bradford said it can sometimes take months for people to be removed.
Rep. Abe Jones, a Democrat on the committee questioned where people would be taken after being removed from the property.
“I don’t have an answer to that because it’s no different than when someone gets evicted from their home,” Bradford said.
Bradford said he is working to incorporate the proposed changes North Carolina Sheriffs Association in the bill that addresses liability protections for law enforcement officers involved in the removal. He will also add changes proposed by the left-wing parties North Carolina Justice Center, he said.
–Kyle Ingram
The bill would allow appeals of student suspensions
A bill introduced Wednesday in the Senate Education Committee would allow high school students to appeal short-term suspensions and even have them removed from their records.
Christian McGhee gained national attention for his April suspension from Central Davidson High School in Davidson County. He had questioned the teacher’s use of the word aliens, asking whether they were “space aliens, or illegal aliens who need green cards.”
McGhee’s family was not allowed to appeal their son’s three-day suspension.
Republican Senator. Steve Jarvis of Davidson County said Wednesday that the bill maintains “due process for students” who feel they have been unfairly punished by appealing.
The bill, which received bipartisan support in committee on Wednesday, could be formally voted on in committee next week.
Get the full story T. Keung Hui here.
NC DEMS URGE TO PROTECT ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS
Democratic lawmakers seeking to amend the state constitution to create a right of access to public records unveiled House Bill 1075 on Wednesday.
In introducing the bill, Democrats said their Republican counterparts are failing to be transparent.
Last year, the Republican-authored state budget exempted state lawmakers from following state public records laws. The budget provision allowed lawmakers to decide which public documents to make public.
Sen. Graig Meijera Democrat from Chapel Hill, questioned why lawmakers should “ever destroy or sell records to conduct public business,” a possibility mentioned in the budget provision.
A constitutional amendment must be supported by three-fifths of the House and Senate before it can be brought to a vote.
Get the full story Vivienne Serret here.
ELECTION BOARD DENIES GOP EARLY VOTING LIMITS
The State Board of Elections on Tuesday rejected GOP efforts that would have been limited or changed early voting in important provinces.
The board denied local plans that:
Plans for early voting in North Carolina must be approved unanimously by a county election board. Without a unanimous vote, the decision goes to the state board.
The state board had to consider voting plans in eleven provinces this year after they could not agree unanimously.
Get the full story Kyle Ingram here.
BISHOP COMPARES TRUMP TRIAL TO JUSTICE IN THE SEGREGATED SOUTH
US representative Then Bishop appeared this week on The Pete Kaliner Show on radio station WBT in Charlotte, detailing the prosecution of the former president Donald Trump as ‘vengeful’.
Bishop, also a candidate for North Carolina attorney general, told listeners Monday that Trump’s prosecution was “politically motivated.”
The Republican congressman compared Trump’s prosecution and Thursday’s guilty verdict on 34 charges of falsifying corporate records to the legal system faced by black people in the segregated South.
Bishop said the prosecutors who charged Trump should themselves be prosecuted for abusing their power.
Get the full story Avi Bajpai here.
That’s all for today. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol news.
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