RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Republican legislative leaders want the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling striking down a state voting law and reject the new Democratic state attorney general’s bid to dismiss the appeal.
Lawyers the General Assembly hired to defend the 2013 law objected Monday to Attorney General Josh Stein’s petition last week.
They say Stein lacks authority to step in because previous Attorney General Roy Cooper stopped defending the law last summer after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared the law unconstitutional because it targeted minority voters. The measure required photo identification to vote in person and reduced the number of early voting days.
The legislators’ lawyers also said Stein has a conflict of interest because he testified against the law at trial while a state senator.