It was an incredibly busy day in #ncpol yesterday. Big news for the Biden and Trump campaigns, a new racial gerrymandering lawsuit, and the start of the new Parents Bill of Rights/Don't Say Gay law in the state's biggest school district.

A thread, ICYMI 🧵 Overnight the Wake County school board enacted the new law requiring teachers to "out" trans kids to their parents, and possibly banning books in elementary school with LGBTQ characters.

The changes are mandatory statewide, and will likely bring lawsuits wral.com/story/wake-sch…

Back at the NC Supreme Court today for round 2 of do-overs. Yesterday was gerrymandering; today is voter ID

The previous Democratic-majority ruled both unconstitutional last year but Republicans flipped the court in the midterm elections and are rehearing both cases #ncpol #ncga Last year wasn’t the first time voter ID was ruled unconstitutional for intentional racial discrimination

GOP lawmakers said they addressed racial targeting issues in the new version—but Supreme Court ignored that/didn’t give them a fair hearing wral.com/nc-supreme-cou… #ncpol

Good morning from the NC Supreme Court, where security is tighter than I’ve ever seen, for today’s re-do on partisan gerrymandering.

The normal public access to the court is gone—even the main doors in are locked, and they’re vetting who can go inside the courtroom itself #ncpol For context there are a couple hundred protesters directly across the street who are very vocal about their displeasure with the court’s decision to redo this case (plus voter ID and the Leandro education funding case) #ncpol

Heading to #ncpol Supreme Court soon for redistricting. Republican lawmakers lost last year: Majority-Democrat court ruled partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional.

Then GOP voters flipped the court back in November. New majority decided to re-do the case wral.com/nc-supreme-cou… Although it's what most people expect, we don't know for sure yet that the justices will gut North Carolina's anti-gerrymandering precedent.

In the rare instances the court has reheard cases, it often keeps the same ruling (but with a rewritten opinion to add new references etc)

Stein's video starts w/ his dad's law firm--bombed in 1971 (they won a SCOTUS case forcing NC schools to finally de-segregate)

He then shows GOP Lt Gov. Mark Robinson, a likely 2024 candidate

Stein: "Today there’s a different set of bomb throwers" #ncpol newsobserver.com/news/politics-… Most campaign kickoff videos are pure fluff about the candidate. They rarely attack opponents, let alone show clips of them.

Stein takes a much more aggressive approach here--especially since Robinson hasn't formally announced yet (although he has said he's considering) #ncpol

In a rare move, the group of all 50 states' Supreme Court chief justices wrote to SCOTUS, urging them to shoot down the argument NC Republican lawmakers are making--that there should be no checks and balances for election laws--in their "Independent State Legislature" case #ncpol The brief is careful to say it doesn't support either party. But its first sentence (left photo) directly opposes the argument NC lawmakers made (right photo) about whether or not courts should be allowed to rule on redistricting maps, etc.

Link is here: supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/2…

Odd ruling by the NC Court of Appeals today: A 3-judge panel let an "alienation of affection" lawsuit move forward...but all 3 judges wrote separately, two of whom argued over whether the law is constitutional (an issue the lawsuit itself doesn't appear to have raised) #ncpol Alienation of affection is the fancy legal term for "being a homewrecker." If your spouse has an affair and you get divorced, that law lets you sue the person they slept with.

Sometimes the verdicts can be *massive* like @joshshaffer08 wrote here newsobserver.com/latest-news/ar… #ncpol

New: @NCDemParty wants a criminal investigation into AG Josh Stein's 2020 opponent, Jim O'Neill, since yesterday a judge greenlit an investigation of Stein's campaign

They say the Stein action is unconstitutional--but if it's happening, O'Neill should be investigated too. #ncpol Here's my story on yesterday's ruling against the Stein campaign, letting the investigation move forward, ICYMI: newsobserver.com/news/politics-… #ncpol

A criminal investigation into AG Josh Stein's 2020 campaign can go on, a federal judge just ruled, reversing her earlier decision to halt the investigation: newsobserver.com/news/politics-…

She adds that Wake County DA Lorrin Freeman "expects to present testimony to a grand jury" #ncpol The investigation is based on a never-before-used 1930s law making it a crime to say false things about politicians. Stein and others argue it's unconstitutional, but the judge disagrees.

I imagine this will be appealed, but no official word yet. #ncpol newsobserver.com/news/politics-…

Today @dawnbvaughan and I published several articles looking more deeply into the new #ncpol state budget 🧵

✅ Why it prioritized the Rainy Day Fund (instead of tax cuts or extra spending)

✅ Millions in pork projects

✅ The public had no chance to even try offering input Inflation concerns have North Carolina lawmakers wanting to learn lessons from 2009, and make sure the state has billions in savings in case of another recession #ncpol #ncga newsobserver.com/news/politics-…

Newest update in North Carolina's ongoing redistricting fight: Democratic lawmakers say they haven't heard anything from GOP leaders on a schedule for redrawing the maps (which are due in less than 2 weeks) #ncpol #ncga

That might mean a couple things... newsobserver.com/news/politics-… 1. Republicans might just be waiting for the full court opinion. We've seen a broad order, but not the actual opinion with details on what the court wants.

Not crazy to think GOP would want those details before starting the redraw (or deciding whether to appeal to SCOTUS) #ncpol

Pretty slow start to NC’s 2021 redistricting process. But a handful of GOP lawmakers are in the room (at least in the House) and starting to plug away at some possible maps. #ncpol #ncga On the right Rep. Jay Adams (R-Catawba) is working as House Speaker Moore’s chief of staff looks on. In the middle, redistricting chairman Destin Hall is at work.

People who want to livestream it can do so at ncleg.gov/LegislativeCal… #ncpol #ncga

Thread: This could become an issue in NC too. Latinos here have good arguments for more representation.

1 in 10 North Carolinians is Latino, but only 1 of 170 #ncpol lawmakers is. They are also more responsible than any other group for NC’s new 14th seat in Congress this decade.

https://twitter.com/politicswolf/status/1445440639269683203

That last point is hard to overstate. From 2010 to 2020, North Carolina exploded: 1 million new people! We’re getting more power in national politics because of it.

And it’s because NC added twice as many new Hispanic residents as new white and black residents *combined* #ncpol

Most counties in NC are not the right size (~210,000 people) to have a single state senate district. So the first order of business for the NC Senate this morning is figuring out which counties to group together, or not, in the new maps. So many potential maps! #ncpol #ncga Starting with a presentation of maps from Duke University research (by @jcmattingly @districks @chriscooperwcu and @ncdemography's Rebecca Tippett)--which anyone interested can find here ncleg.gov/documentsites/… #ncpol #ncga

For a random example, here is map 5 of 16

35 years ago, SCOTUS ruled that racial bias in jury selection can influence a trial. But North Carolina has never recognized that ruling. #ncpol

That could change Wednesday, when the NC Supreme Court hears a case similar to this one I wrote about in 2020: newsobserver.com/article2444312… After that SCOTUS ruling, North Carolina had a statewide training called Top Gun II (it was the '90s) for prosecutors on how to strike Black people from juries without mentioning race--like having a haircut that might show "resistance to authority" #ncpol aclu.org/legal-document…

Pretty stunning findings about people's authoritarian tendencies in today's @TheMeredithPoll results

11% said they don't support any form of protest, even peaceful marches--and more than 1 in 5 said they oppose protests at government buildings specifically #ncpol Link to the poll here: meredith.edu/assets/images/… #ncpol

Still love this video (from almost 2 decades ago?!) of George Harrison's son rocking out with some huge stars playing his dad's song

https://twitter.com/kkfla737/status/1364943003182366722

They say if you look up to the stars on a clear night, you can still see Prince's guitar suspended in the sky, from when he threw it at the end of his solo

NC Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell is set to start speaking to a House committee any moment now (audio and video at ncleg.gov/LegislativeCal…)

She's there to give a recap of 2020 and a look ahead to the near future #ncpol #ncga Yesterday the @NCSBE voted to recommend moving back a bunch of elections this year, as well as the 2022 primaries, due to problems the federal government is having with the Census (since we need to redistrict everything, ASAP). @_lucysherman wrote about it newsobserver.com/news/politics-…

Voters marching to the polls in Alamance County today were turned back after sheriff's deputies pepper-sprayed them

Alamance is one of the key counties that will likely decide which party controls the state legislature next year #ncpol #ncga newsobserver.com/news/local/art… Some background: Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson was reprimanded by the U.S. DOJ in 2012 for numerous constitutional violations + an "egregious pattern of racial profiling." He was then re-elected twice, in 2014 and 2018, after no one ran against him justice.gov/opa/pr/justice…

Lots of attention paid to Trump/Biden and Tillis/Cunningham of course, but control of the state legislature is up for grabs this year too. Here's a good @ludkmr primer on which races to watch in the NC Senate carolinapublicpress.org/39140/nc-senat… #ncpol #ncga And here's a story I wrote, 364 days ago, on how if Biden and Trump run at a virtual 50-50 tie here, Republicans will likely hold onto the state legislature. Democrats likely need a substantial Biden win here to take back the #NCGA newsobserver.com/news/politics-…

Voters under 25, compared to #ncpol voters as a whole, are:

🤬2x as likely to have "no confidence" in a fair election

🕵️‍♀️More concerned with foreign interference, and less concerned with voter fraud

🗳️Mostly skeptical that votes will be counted properly newsobserver.com/news/politics-… My article goes into a few possible reasons for this--from them growing up in an age of social media misinformation, and a president who often seems at war himself with the electoral process, to a pretty overwhelming sense that the Electoral College means their votes don't matter