Incoming North Carolina governor Roy Cooper told supporters at a Thursday morning press conference that the special session called by Republican lawmakers to specifically usurp executive power was "unprecedented." Cooper, currently the state attorney general, said lawyers were reviewing the GOP-driven bills and issued a threat. "If I believe these measures are unconstitutional, they will see me in court and they don't have a good track record there," he said, referring to a sweeping voter suppression law that was overturned. Will Doran writes:
Members of the Republican-controlled legislature called for making Cooper’s Cabinet appointments subject to approval by the state Senate and eliminating his ability to appoint members to UNC schools’ boards of trustees and the state Board of Education. Another proposal aims to evenly split election boards between the political parties rather than keep them under control of the governor’s party.
“Most people might think that this is a partisan power grab. But this is more ominous,” Cooper told reporters.
The last time the NC GOP pushed legislation through in the dark of night, they came up with the now-infamous HB2, which targeted LGBTQ people for discrimination, among other things. Apparently, Republicans think the resulting hundreds of millions in lost revenues along with making the state a pariah to businesses and sporting events alike was a whopping success. Democratic lawmakers like Rep. Graig Meyer differ on that point. "They will see all of us at the ballot box in 2017... Election season starts now," he told a crowd gathered at the state legislature to protest Republican actions.
Rev. William Barber, leader of the Moral Monday protests, called the Republican bills “deep violations of the Democratic process.”
Check out the video of protesters below.