North Carolina Supreme Court's new GOP majority could have big impact in key cases

(The Center Square) — Tuesday's election could prove pivotal for abortion restrictions, voting rights, redistricting and other important issues in North Carolina after Republicans won two state Supreme Court seats to secure a 5-2 majority.

Republican appeals court Judge Richard Dietz prevailed against Democrat appeals court Judge Lucy Inman for an open Seat 3 on the state's highest court with a vote of 53% to 47%, while Republican Trey Allen, general counsel for the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, wrested Seat 5 from incumbent Democrat Associate Justice Sam Ervin IV, 52% to 48%.

Republicans also won 15 of 19 contested judicial races, including all four Court of Appeals races.

The incoming state Supreme Court justices will serve eight-year terms beginning in January and could rule on cases involving abortion rights, education funding, redistricting, and other critical issues.

The shift of power on the Supreme Court comes just three years after Democrats held a 6-1 advantage, which had eroded to a 4-3 majority heading into the election.

"When Republicans did have supermajorities, from my perspective, Democrats tried to achieve their policy proposals through the courts," Republican strategist Pat Ryan told WRAL. "The only difference will be that that avenue will no longer be available to Democrats to achieve their policy objectives."

Democrats on the Supreme Court have thwarted the Republican agenda in the General Assembly through party-line rulings or other decisions on redistricting, voter identification, and most recently school funding in the long-running Leandro lawsuit.

The court has redrawn the congressional district map approved by the General Assembly that's currently at the center of a pending lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court, ordered hundreds of millions in education funding, and is considering the legality of the state's voter identification laws.

Other cases working their way through the North Carolina courts involve legal challenges to the state's abortion laws, certificate of need laws and Gov. Roy Cooper's executive order that shut down an Alamance County speedway during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The North Carolina Supreme Court will also hear a case next year centered on when felons regain the right to vote.

Republicans in the General Assembly have repeatedly criticized the Democrat-controlled court for politicizing important cases, both through rulings and the timing of decisions. Republicans expanded their supermajority in the Senate on Tuesday, and came one seat short of a supermajority in the House, results Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, described as "a barometer of where voters want their state and country to go."

"The Republican platform of lower taxes, job creation, expanded parental choice and quality education is one that reflects the needs of all North Carolinians," Berger said in a statement. "Our promise to the people of North Carolina is that the Senate Republican supermajority will continue to deliver on those priorities."

Dietz and Allen, meanwhile, have vowed to cast politics aside to focus on the law, and will play a critical role in determining whether legislation approved by the General Assembly survives anticipated legal challenges over the next eight years.

"I've made the theme of my campaign 'leadership, not politics,'" Dietz told The Daily Tar Heel in an emailed statement. "I don't bring any political mission to my job. My only mission – from the moment I took the oath as a judge – is to defend our rights, protect the rule of law, and help people resolve their legal disputes fairly."

Allen echoed that judicial philosophy on his website, where he contends "judges must follow the constitution as originally understood and the laws as written."