A judge in North Carolina on Friday blocked the state’s new law limiting the incoming governor’s power over the State Board of Elections.
WTVD in Raleigh reported that Gov.-elect Roy Cooper filed the lawsuit and asked for a temporary hearing on the constitutionality of the law Friday. A Wake County judge heard arguments and granted a temporary restraining order on the legislation.
The bill would transfer control of the elections board from the governor’s office to the state’s General Assembly. Cooper says the law is unconstitutional.
The law was passed following Cooper’s defeat of current Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican who signed laws passed in the Republican-controlled assembly’s December special session limiting his successor’s power. It was set to go into effect Jan. 1.
North Carolina governors currently control the State Board of Elections, but the new law would make the board bipartisan, with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats.
Other laws Cooper has promised to challenge are those passed by the assembly requiring his Cabinet selections to be approved by the legislature. The North Carolina Constitution gives lawmakers the ability only to advise and consent to the governor’s Cabinet appointees.
