This N.C. Supreme Court Election May Not Be Resolved Until the Second Term of Malia Obama's Presidency

(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post)

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin', and where, out there in the cold distance, a wild cat did growl.

We start in North Carolina, where an election to the state supreme court may not be resolved until the second term of the presidency of Malia Obama. For the benefit of readers who may have joined our blog in progress, last November, incumbent supreme court Justice Allison Riggs very narrowly defeated a Republican named Jefferson Griffin. Riggs is a Democrat and her re-election kept another Democrat on the court. Which, of course, cannot be allowed in this year of 2025. Griffin pursued every avenue and back road of the law and lost at every turn. Until he got to the N.C. supreme court. Essentially changing the rules of the election ex post facto, that court gave Griffin the opportunity to disqualify almost 1700 ballots, more than enough for him to win an election he'd already lost several times.

And, as you might imagine, this latest action has opened up the floodgates. From The Guardian:

The ruling also set off a scramble to figure out next steps for the unprecedented election challenge. There’s confusion over how to find these voters, how to cure their ballots, and what next steps will look like. The state board of elections said in a court filing yesterday that these voters would be reviewed by elections officials to see whether they have claims of residency in North Carolina, and whether, if they were found to be one-time residents and otherwise valid, their ballots would count.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed in federal court to stop the ruling from taking effect. Plaintiffs in one of the cases include a military spouse living in Italy who was born and raised in North Carolina; a lifelong resident who moved to Switzerland for her husband’s PhD program who is in the process of moving back to the state; a North Carolinian teaching English abroad on a one-year contract and a teacher at an air force base in Japan who lived in the state until last year. A federal court in North Carolina said elections officials should begin the ballot curing process but otherwise hold off on certifying any results pending the court process. The judge in that case, a Trump appointee, would not issue a stay of the case.

The potentially disallowed ballots involve non-resident ballots, including 1409 from Guilford County that were cast without a photo ID, which was not required during last November's elections. Guilford County is heavily Democratic, but I'm sure that's a coincidence. There are about 25 causes of action on either side of this election, which is precisely the point of Jefferson's challenge. Something always sticks to the wall. Nevertheless, the fundamentals of this case will remain the same. Under the rules in effect at the time of the election, Riggs won. Anything else is a heist.

We move on up to Michigan, where the Army Corps of Engineers is still conducting its investigation into Enbridge pipeline No. 5 project, which would run some extremely dirty oil under the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lakes Huron and Michigan. (The project is meant to replace a section of an oil and natural gas liquids pipeline that has leaked 33 times since 1968.) The ACE began its review in 2022. A year later, the Corps announced that its review had extended its deadline to 2025 with a final report due in 2026. Then, the Drill, Baby Drill election happened. From the Michigan Advance:

In 2023, the Army Corps of Engineers announced it would extend its review for the statement, with plans to issue a draft statement in 2025 and a final decision expected in early 2026. However, a decision could come much sooner following an order from President Trump instructing the United States Army Corps of Engineers to exercise emergency permitting power to facilitate the nation’s energy supply. Following Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order which declared a national energy emergency in order to boost fossil fuel production, many Line 5 opponents warned that the order could impact the Corps’ review of the tunnel project. After several indications that the Line 5 tunnel would receive expedited processing, members of the Corps confirmed on Wednesday that the project would be reviewed under emergency procedures.

My guess is that the Corps will approve the project. It will be rushed to completion. The president will show up on a ferryboat to talk about energy independence and beautiful clean water. The pipeline thereupon will leak and someone will lie about it, and there will be another environmental review. If the folks in Michigan are very lucky, all this will happen under another president.

Cruising the country's upper latitudes, we find ourselves in Oregon, where the legislature is voting on a what may be the most delightful piece of legislation anywhere this year. The bill will protect beavers who build their dams on public lands, and it isn't just a bit of furry woodland creatures sentimentality. The bill enlists beavers into the cause of clean water and environmental protection. From the Oregon Capital Chronicle:

Beaver dams improve water quality by lowering stream temperatures via creation of deep pools and increased inputs of cooler groundwater. By slowing down the flow of streams, sediment and pollutants settle out of the water. Additionally, the increased groundwater recharge contributes to cooler water temperatures which helps support healthier aquatic ecosystems. The dams also lead to the creation of wetlands which are natural filters, trapping excess nutrients, heavy metals, and other contaminants. They are also natural firebreaks and help protect downstream water quality post wildfire by trapping soil and ash eroding off the hillslopes.

When beavers are not killed by humans they are able to build and maintain dams, expand wetland habitats, and provide ecosystem services as a result. Beaver dams, and the ponds and wetlands they create, provide multiple important environmental benefits to human and wild communities. One key contribution is enhanced water storage. The ponds and wetlands created by beaver activity help retain water on the landscape, which supports streamflow during dry periods and increases the frequency of groundwater recharge. Beaver dams, ponds, and wetlands, also reduce the magnitude of downstream flooding by slowing and spreading out water flows in the headwaters.

Beaver wetlands create critical habitat for a wide range of species, including fish, amphibians, birds, and insects, promoting greater biodiversity; including species like elk, deer, trout, and salmon that hunters and anglers like to pursue. Hunters and anglers can look forward to the prospects of more habitat as a result.

Beats the hell out of Lee Zeldin running the EPA.

And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, whence Blog Official Ginjinha Taste Tester Friedman of the Algarve brings us a guy with a really dazzlingly bad necktie and an argument out of 1910. From the Oklahoma Voice:

Under the measure, if revenue exceeds the fiscal year 2023 baseline of nearly $13.2 billion by $300 million, it will trigger a .25% tax cut beginning in budget year 2026. The cut is expected to cost $108.2 million, according to Senate staff and the Oklahoma Tax Commission. If triggered in fiscal year 2027, the cost would be $272.5 million, according to the Oklahoma Tax Commission. If there is no growth, the cut will not be triggered. “It creates a pathway to the eventual elimination of the state income tax with guardrails in place to make sure there will be no tax rate cut during down economic years,” said Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, the Senate author.

Enter the necktie.

Taxing labor disincentivizes productivity, said Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, who voted for the bill. “Taxing people’s wages is bad because it undermines liberty,” Deevers said. “It undermines people’s freedoms. If government controls income, then it controls your life.”

Dusty is also a pastor and an outright Christ-Is-King! theocrat, From the Independent:

Senator Dusty Deevers, an abortion abolitionist, pastor, and Oklahoma State Senator announced eight executive measures last Tuesday aimed at railing “against the moral decay foisted upon Oklahoma”–including a bill that seeks aims to penalize anybody who engages with porn. The eight legislative bills are aimed at removing abortion rights, handing out jail sentences for the possession of pornography with increased sentences for child pornography, banning children from watching drag queen performances, promoting the sanctity of marriage, removing “incompatibility” as a justification for divorce, offering tax credits to incentivize adoption, promoting two-parent households, and granting Christian health insurance firms the same tax benefits as regular insurance companies.

“Either you’re coming under the rule of God your creator[…]or you’re going to come under the rule of The Serpent,” he told Jon Harris, presenter of the “Conversations That Matter" podcast – a channel that “delves into Christian, traditional, and masculine views on theology, culture, and politics”, according to the Youtube listing.

The Rule Of The Serpent—Coming this fall from Netflix.

This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.