TO THE EDITOR:
The Nov. 8 election for State Supreme Court reflected the will of North Carolina voters, when Justice-elect Mike Morgan won by about nine percentage points.
Now, state Republicans want to use a special session on hurricane relief to pack the court with two more appointed seats in order to regain GOP control of the state’s highest court (News & Observer, 11/12/16, “Packing N.C.’s high court for political advantage would abuse the legislative process”).
This childish move by state GOP lawmakers would go against the very idea that made our country unique when it was founded more than 200 years ago: the peaceful transition of power.
It seems our GOP representatives do not respect this hallmark of our democracy, and what’s worse, they are willing to put the livelihoods of thousands of people who were affected by Hurricane Matthew at risk.
This is a dirty political trick, and one that brings disgrace to our state.
We need to ensure that our neighbors in eastern North Carolina are not political pawns, and that the election process — which chose an intelligent, qualified, responsible and honorable person to serve on the State Supreme Court, fair and square — is protected.
The court should be allowed to do its job and uphold the rule of law without Republicans flooding it with politics. GOP lawmakers should renounce this plan today and allow the will of voters to stand.
As our elected representatives, they do us a disservice by staying silent on this matter.
