Local

North Carolina Supreme Court race fight will remain in state court – for now

High stakes in N. Carolina court races with majority on line Republican state Supreme Court candidate Trey Allen, second right, speaks during the North Carolina Supreme Court Candidate Forum at Duke University Law School in Durham, N.C., Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

CHARLOTTE — A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the legal fight in the race for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court should remain in state court – for now.

N.C. Court of Appeals judge Jefferson Griffin, the Republican candidate, trails his Democratic opponent, incumbent N.C. Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs, by 734 votes after two statewide recounts.

Griffin has filed numerous legal challenges to stop the certification of votes, asking state courts to throw out more than 50,000 votes for various reasons. In part, he argued thousands of voters have invalid registration forms, and that others did not submit a photo identification with their absentee ballots.

On Tuesday, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the federal district court ruling that Griffin’s challenges be heard in state courts before federal courts should intervene, but said it reserved the right to intervene in the future. The three-judge panel affirmed that the federal district court had properly removed the case (from state court) under a federal civil rights statute.

“As the district court explained, the [N.C. Board of Elections] claimed that granting Griffin the relief he sought might violate federal civil rights law...we see no error in the district court’s decision.”

The panel also affirmed the federal district court’s order “abstaining from exercising federal jurisdiction and remanding to Wake County Superior Court,” but modified that order using a “more appropriate theory.” Citing a case known as Pullman, the appeals court directed the district court “to modify its order to expressly retain jurisdiction of the federal issues...should those issues remain after the resolution of the state court proceedings, including any appeals.”

Two weeks ago, the N.C. Supreme Court made a similar ruling, remanding the case back to Wake County Superior Court to rule on Griffin’s legal challenges and pausing certification of the election results until it does so.

That hearing is scheduled for this Friday at 10 a.m. in Raleigh.


(WATCH: Republican in close NC Supreme Court race asks court to throw out 60K ballots)

Evan Donovan

Evan Donovan, wsoctv.com

Evan is an anchor and reporter for Channel 9.

0