Under the Dome: Gov. Stein sues over GOP bill restricting judicial, utilities appointments
Good morning and welcome to the Under the Dome newsletter. I’m Emmy Martin. First up, a dispatch from Kyle Ingram.
North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein sued top Republican leaders on Friday over a bill restricting his appointments power over judicial vacancies and the state Utilities Commission.
The bill, passed along party lines in the final days of the Republican veto-proof supermajority, requires the governor to fill vacancies on appellate courts from a list of candidates provided by the political party of the vacating judge.
In his complaint, Stein argues that the state constitution “forecloses any role for the General Assembly, much less the state’s political parties, in deciding who fills judicial vacancies to our Supreme Court and Court of Appeals; the people expressly placed that responsibility solely and exclusively in the hands of their chosen governor.”
His lawsuit also targets a provision of the bill that removes one of his appointments to the Utilities Commission and transfers it to the state treasurer.
“Taking the duty of faithful execution assigned exclusively to the governor by the North Carolina Constitution and diffusing it among other executive branch officers is not within the General Assembly’s legislative power and violates the separation of powers clause,” he argues.
The lawsuit is Stein’s third legal challenge to Senate Bill 382, which was billed as a hurricane relief measure but includes massive power shifts weakening new Democratic officials.
Republicans overturned Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto to enact the bill in December – just one month after Stein beat Republican Mark Robinson in the governor’s race by a whopping 15 points.
Stein is also suing over provisions in SB 382 that strip him of his power to appoint members of the State Board of Elections and restrict his authority over the State Highway Patrol.
— Kyle Ingram
NC LAWMAKERS FILE ANOTHER BILL RESTRICTING CELLPHONE USE IN SCHOOLS
Several Republican legislators in the state House filed a bill to eliminate or restrict students’ use of cellphones during instructional time in public schools. The bill’s four primary authors are GOP Reps. Neal Jackson, Brian Biggs, Mike Schietzelt and Blair Eddins.
Sound familiar? That’s because a similar bill was filed last week in the Senate: Senate Bill 55.
The Senate bill expands from just cellphones to restrict the use of other wireless devices like laptops and tablets, T. Keung Hui reports.
It requires school boards and charter schools to create a policy that prohibits students from using, displaying or having a wireless communication device turned on during instructional time — at a minimum.
While House Bill 87 doesn’t specify the consequences for violating the “Cell Phone-Free Education Policy,” SB 55 states that consequences could include confiscation of the device and any other disciplinary measures.
The Senate bill also adds that schools can make exceptions, including teachers’ authorization for educational purposes or an emergency, if a student has a medical need or if it’s part of a special-education plan. HB 87 does not.
Both bills state that the device restrictions will go into effect for the 2025-2026 academic year if they become law.
U.S. REPS DEMAND PROBE INTO ELON MUSK’S ‘CONFLICTS OF INTEREST’
Democrats on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, led by North Carolina Rep. Deborah Ross and Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, demanded an investigation into the “conflicts of interest” created by Elon Musk’s position at the Department of Government Efficiency in a sharp letter on Friday.
North Carolina Rep. Valerie Foushee was one of the 10 other Democrats who signed the letter.
Because of Musk’s involvement in federally regulated industries and potential profit from his role in DOGE, the Democrats called on Attorney General Pam Bondi and David Huitema, the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, to enforce federal ethics laws relevant to his role as a Special Government Employee.
“Musk’s sprawling financial interests in federal contracts and subsidies make it impossible to credibly argue that his conflicts are not material,” the lawmakers said in the letter.
The Democrats argue that Musk’s companies’ connections with federal agencies via defense contracts, telecommunications regulations and energy policy are muddied by his participation in government matters that impact those sectors.
“Given Mr. Musk’s extensive business holdings in addition to SpaceX – including Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) – it is critical that the DOJ ensure compliance with this statute to preserve public trust in government,” the lawmakers said. “Mr. Musk’s position as an SGE demands heightened scrutiny.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing last week that “if Elon Musk comes across a conflict of interest with the contracts and the funding that DOGE is overseeing, then Elon will excuse himself from those contracts, and he has, again, abided by all applicable laws.”
MORROW SAYS ‘EDUCATIONAL CABAL’ DESTROYING EDUCATION
Michele Morrow, the former Republican candidate for N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction, is calling on the Trump administration to investigate the “educational cabal” that she says is ruining U.S. public education.
In an interview aired Sunday on Fox News, President Donald Trump announced he’s asked Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency to investigate the departments of defense and education. Morrow, who now heads an education advocacy group, stood outside the Department of Education on Monday to support both the DOGE investigation and the dismantling of the Department of Education.
“The U.S. Department of Education, the National Education Association, the American Library Association and Planned Parenthood together make up the rotten core of the educational cabal that has been forcing a politically charged, racially, divisive and sexually explicit content on our young people,” Morrow said. “This nexus of power has been robbing our students of the academic rigor, the moral development and the critical thinking skills they need, while lining their own pockets.”
Morrow is a MAGA activist and homeschool parent who lost to Democrat Mo Green in November’s superintendent election. After the election, she formed the National Alliance for Education Reform to help support Trump’s agenda and to lobby to help make good on her campaign promises.
“Elon Musk and DOGE are about to uncover the dark political partnership that exists between the Department of Ed, the American Library Association, Planned Parenthood, and the NEA,” Morrow said. “They are terrified for us to see behind the curtain, and well they should be. Their decades-long facade is about to crumble.”
— T. Keung Hui
WHAT ELSE WE’RE WORKING ON
Gov. Josh Stein announced Monday that Interstate 40 will reopen through the Pigeon River Gorge on March 1, Richard Stradling reports. The opening will restore the main highway link between North Carolina and Tennessee for the first time since Hurricane Helene washed away the eastbound lanes in several places. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy was also in Western North Carolina, visiting the damaged interstate in person for the first time.
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined 21 other states to sue the Trump administration and the National Institutes of Health for what they called an “unlawful” funding cut on Monday, Brian Gordon reports. Within hours, a court had temporarily blocked the cut. Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill could lose hundreds of millions in federal funding under the new NIH cap on how much the government will pay toward certain medical research expenses.
ACROSS THE AISLE
U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, a North Carolina Republican, reintroduced the bipartisan “Love Lives On Act” last week to ensure widowed spouses of military members maintain access to survivor benefits if they remarry.
“It takes great courage for surviving spouses of fallen servicemembers to pick up the pieces and move forward in the face of unimaginable loss,” Hudson said in a statement. “We must ensure they do not have to worry about losing benefits that are actively supporting their family.”
Today’s newsletter was by Emmy Martin and Kyle Ingram. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol.
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