Just before North Carolina’s new Democratic governor was sworn in, the Republican state legislature passed a series of laws limiting his power — something that may not have been wise, but which Democrats had done previously when the shoe was on the other foot.

One of those laws requires the new governor, Roy Cooper, and all of his successors, to get state Senate confirmation of his cabinet, just as the president must do at the federal level. (Although an “advice and consent” clause does appear in North Carolina’s state constitution, Cabinet confirmations had not been required previously.)