If “politicians in robes” fits
“The attempt of a radical minority to enforce their will on the rest of us, who constitute a majority, by stealing control of the states and then, through them, control of the federal government is precisely what the Confederates tried to do before the Civil War: it is no accident that one of the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, carried a replica of a Confederate battle flag,” writes Heather Cox Richardson in her “Letters from an American” this morning. She cites events Friday in North Carolina.
There’s a word for this sort of thing: Bad (CBS News):
In massive victories for Republicans, the North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday threw out a previous ruling against gerrymandered voting maps and upheld a photo voter identification law that colleagues had struck down as racially biased.
The rulings likely give the GOP-controlled legislature the ability to rework the state’s congressional map for next year’s election to help Republicans gain seats in the narrowly divided U.S. House. Under the previous map, Democrats won seven of the state’s 14 congressional seats last November.
The new edition of the court, which became a Republican majority this year following the election of two GOP justices, ruled after taking the unusual step of revisiting opinions made in December by the court’s previous iteration, when Democrats held a 4-3 seat advantage. The court held rehearings in March.
Goodbye 7-7 congressional delegation. Hello 10-4 in ’24.
Short version: North Carolina is one governor’s election away from being North Florida. And maybe closer than that with GOP supermajorities in both houses and Mark Robinson as Lt. Governor.
We’re working on it. The youngest state party chair in the country, Anderson Clayton, is working on it rather furiously. As the Washington Post put it, A Gen Z party chair hopes to change Democrats’ fortunes in N.C.
“So many people across the state are fed up. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m tired of losing,” Clayton said, drawing cheers and applause from the crowd. “I’m tired of Republicans coming in and threatening my rights. … We all should be so tired and angry.”
Clayton was rather put out by the court’s decisions on Friday:
Clayton just outhustled Wisconsin’s Ben Wikler in winning a poll for which state Daily Kos should focus efforts in 2024. DKos is already raising money for the state Democratic Party to help with field organizing. Wikler is even requesting monthly donations for NCDP.
If anyone can build momentum and stop this state from becoming North Florida, Clayton can.