Chris Dragga: GOP’s actions ‘impressive’

Regarding the April 26 Under the Dome item “Veto override sends issue to court”: The lengths to which North Carolina Republicans were willing to go to prevent Gov. Roy Cooper and, more broadly, people who might vote for Democrats from having any influence over the judiciary were truly impressive.

The list was extensive and stopped short of outright court packing: shrinking the Court of Appeals; removing the governor’s power to appoint replacement judges; shuffling around where cases are heard, adding an extra stage of appeals before the Supreme Court in some cases; changing the organization of district courts in Mecklenburg County; and turning every judicial election partisan.

In light of other actions by the state GOP – requiring the vetting of cabinet appointments, shifting powers previously belonging to the executive over to the legislature and imposing stringent voting restrictions – it could seem that the party was attempting not only to erase the results of the previous election but also to ensure that a Democrat never takes the governorship, or, ideally, any office, again.

But this would be deeply anti-democratic and an affront to our nation’s founding principles, and the GOP would surely never do anything un-American. Right?

This story was originally published April 29, 2017 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Chris Dragga: GOP’s actions ‘impressive’."