North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper [official website] filed a new suit [AP report] against Republican state legislators on Friday challenging laws, which allegedly unconstitutionally limit his power to appoint appeals court judges and members of board and commissions. Cooper argues that these laws prevent him from successfully performing his duties. The laws in question reduce the number of court of appeals judges to 12, effectively preventing the governor from filling vacancies, and set the memberships of the commissions. The defendants argue that the adjustment to the number of appellate court judges reflected nothing more than a lower case load for the intermediate-level appeals court and that another suit brought by Cooper at this time stands contrary to his commitment to work together with the legislature. Cooper is additionally challenging a legislation enacted in December that gave the wife of the former Republican governor Pat McCrory’s chief of staff an approximate 8½-year term on the North Carolina Industrial Commission, a quasi-judicial panel that adjudicates workers’ compensation cases. Governors usually only appoint commissioners to six-year terms. Cooper’s attorney stated of the suit: “The latest challenged laws “fail to respect fundamental principles of representative government and the basic guarantees of the North Carolina Constitution.”

The North Carolina Republican-controlled legislature and Democrat-Governor Roy Cooper have been embroiled in litigation and conflict since the day Cooper won the elections defeating incumbent McCrory. Cooper was the Attorney General of North Carolina before assuming office as governor. McCrory lost to Cooper in the November elections but refused to concede victory [NPR report] until a recount proved that he lost by more than 10,000 votes. In December outgoing governor McCrory signed [JURIST report] Senate Bill 4 and House Bill 17 [texts, PDFs], which significantly restricted Cooper’s powers. Specifically, Senate Bill 4 eliminates the governor’s control over the State Board of Elections by reducing the number of members from the governor’s party on the board from three out of a total of five to two out of a total of four. Senate Bill 4 also requires the party affiliations of appellate judicial candidates to be printed on ballots and further increases the power of North Carolina’s appellate courts. House Bill 17 requires Cooper’s cabinet secretaries to be confirmed by the Senate, reduces the number of administrative positions in the executive branch, strips the governor of his powers to appoint trustees at the University of North Carolina and some of his powers to oversee schools in the state. In February a three-judge panel issued a temporary restraining order [JURIST report] limiting the law stripping the governor of some of his powers.