Rabon's bill will damage state's courts
Published January 4, 2018
Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, December 31, 2017.
The state senator from Southport has been joining his Republican cronies in Raleigh with some very naughty behavior, sabotaging North Carolina’s court system for little better reason than partisan advantage.
Rabon’s contribution to this fiasco was introducing Senate Bill 698, which would essentially fire every single state judge -- District Court, Superior Court, Court and Appeals and Supreme Court. Regardless of past elections, under this bill, all of their terms would automatically expire in 2018.
This comes after the 2016 elections, when the voters slipped up and elected a Democrat, Mike Morgan, as chief justice, turning the State Supreme Court over to Democratic control.
Republican legislators apparently intend to correct this oversight as rapidly as possible. They’ve already turned North Carolina judicial races back into partisan contests.
Senate Bill 698 will also shorten the term of every single judge to two years, same as state legislators. (Currently, appeals judges and Superior Court judges serve eight-year terms.)
This system, of course, means that judicial races will become as political as the legislature. Judges will be constantly running for re-election, will be ever more dependent on campaign contributions -- and dependent on corporate and special interests.
And that’s still not all. The Republicans have already shrunk the size of the N.C. Court of Appeals from 15 judges to 12, in a transparent effort to ensure that Gov. Cooper will have no chance to appoint one during his term.
They’re currently redrawing the state’s judicial districts, a process denounced by Democrats and independents as blatantly partisan and devoid of any real debate. Democrats walked out earlier this month when the redistricting panel refused even to listen to a distinguished retired judge sent by Gov. Cooper to testify.
Senate Bill 698 hasn’t passed yet, but it’s likely to sneak up for a vote when the legislature reconvenes in 2018. Capital watchers say this is just a first step toward Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger’s stated goal of “merit selection.” Under it, state judges would be appointed ... by the legislature.
This is a travesty, and North Carolina voters had better be ready to squawk -- and to march to the polls if the Republicans in Raleigh don’t mend their ways.
