North Carolina Democrats Push Amendments to Limit GOP Rule

North Carolina Democratic lawmakers introduced three constitutional amendments aimed at locking in the governor’s powers, forcing more public oversight of the Judicial Standards Commission, and tightening recusal and disclosure rules for state Supreme Court ju

On Wednesday. eight North Carolina Democrats stood at a lectern and laid out a familiar complaint in a state where power can shift quickly—but they framed it as something more permanent: the constitutional rules that determine who gets to govern. who gets to police judges. and how much the public is allowed to see.

The bills add up to three constitutional amendments. unveiled at a press conference. designed to protect traditional authority of the state’s governor and change oversight inside the state court system. The lawmakers acknowledged the political reality immediately. With Republicans holding majorities in both the North Carolina House and Senate. the proposals were seen as unlikely to pass in the current session.

Rep. Phil Rubin. the primary sponsor of one measure. said the point of constitutional change was not to win a single fight—it was to make the next fight harder to weaponize. “Republicans won’t always be in the majority,” Rubin said. “And when they’re not, they’re going to suddenly think these are great rules. So let’s do them now.”.

The effort was prompted in part by ProPublica’s reporting, including an investigation that found that over nearly a decade, Republican lawmakers had pushed through law after law shrinking the powers of North Carolina’s governor, who was a Democrat throughout that period.

Rubin’s bill would bar the legislature from stripping away additional gubernatorial powers. It would also block majority leaders from what he called “government by ambush”—springing major legislation on the minority and the public without notice. Rubin argued that voters deserved the ability to secure their constitutional safeguards rather than watch them erode through ordinary legislative maneuvering.

“ProPublica’s reporting shows the perils of not having this law,” Rubin said. He added that voters should have “the opportunity to secure their constitution, demand absolute transparency in lawmaking and ensure that people, not backroom deals, have the final say.”

Neither Republican leaders in the House, Senate and the court system nor those overseeing the relevant institutions responded to requests for comment on the bills.

For Democrats, the stakes go beyond process. Experts have long maintained that the Republican power shifts thwarted the will of North Carolina voters—removing the Democratic governor’s control or partial control over numerous boards. entities and executive prerogatives and leaving the governor “the nation’s weakest.” Republican officials have defended the changes by pointing out that voters also elected a GOP legislative majority.

The other two amendments are aimed at the judicial system—specifically, how discipline is handled internally and how Supreme Court justices manage conflicts.

House Rep. Marcia Morey authored the first of the court-focused proposals. It would make disciplinary hearings and sanctions by the courts’ internal watchdog—the Judicial Standards Commission—public. Under current rules, GOP leadership has kept the commission’s work cloaked in secrecy. ProPublica reported that behind closed doors. a majority-Republican North Carolina Supreme Court quashed the commission’s recommendations that two Republican judges who had admitted to committing egregious conduct violations be publicly reprimanded.

Morey’s bill would also change who appoints members of the commission, a shift she framed as necessary to prevent “weaponization” of discipline. Currently, Republican legislative leaders and Paul Newby, the state’s conservative chief justice, appoint a majority of the commission’s members.

ProPublica reported that in 2023 Newby encouraged the commission to investigate a Black Democratic justice who had criticized his decision to effectively shut down a racial equity commission. Newby. along with spokespeople for the court and the Judicial Standards Commission. declined to comment or respond to a detailed list of questions about the reporting.

Morey’s proposal would divide commission appointments equally among the chief justice, the governor and the North Carolina State Bar. “Who makes decisions about discipline and who appoints the decision-makers,” Morey said, are critical to making the system “fair and effective.”

The second judicial amendment is sponsored by Rep. Deb Butler. It would disqualify North Carolina Supreme Court justices from hearing cases in which family members are parties. The measure is tied to controversy involving Justice Phil Berger Jr. Berger has ruled in multiple cases where his father. the leader of the state Senate. is a defendant in his legislative capacity.

Berger referred recusal requests on those cases to the Republican majority on the Supreme Court, which ruled he could participate.

Butler’s proposal also seeks expanded disclosure from justices. It would compel them to disclose more information about large stock transactions, outside sources of income and sponsored travel. A ProPublica investigation found that Newby did not disclose a trip to a luxurious Hawaiian resort. paid for by a conservative judicial education program. Newby and court spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment regarding his decision not to disclose the trip.

Butler described her bill as an effort to restore public trust. “People deserve complete confidence in the integrity of their court,” she said.

There’s another political timeline embedded in all three proposals. If the amendments clear the path needed to move forward, the public would get to vote on them in November. If they fail, the sponsors said they would revive them in the next session.

Morey emphasized that the fight would continue even if this round ends in defeat. “We’re committed to following through on these bills to ensure fairness and impartiality in our courts and legislature,” Morey said. “This should be the norm, not the partisan bias we have now.”

The Democrats’ calculation includes the possibility that the balance of power could shift. Even some Republican strategists, according to the sponsors’ expectations, think that a blue wave may have flipped the North Carolina House by the time the next session arrives.

North Carolina Democrats constitutional amendments Phil Rubin Marcia Morey Deb Butler Judicial Standards Commission Paul Newby North Carolina Supreme Court gubernatorial powers court transparency court discipline recusal stock disclosure