These six judges brought shame to our state in the NC Supreme Court race

By The News and Observer Editorial Board

Six months after the vote, Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin — in the face of a federal court ruling against him — has finally conceded that he lost his bid for a seat on the state Supreme Court. But the more significant loser in this case is the state Supreme Court itself and its chief justice, Paul Newby.

Under Newby, the court previously had demonstrated a partisan slant by reversing rulings on gerrymandering and photo ID requirements for voting. But its conduct in the Griffin case has made it clear beyond a doubt that the state’s highest court puts politics before the law.

Newby was accompanied in this attempted theft of an election by three fellow Republican justices, Tamara Barringer, Philip Berger Jr. and Curtis “Trey” Allen, as well as two Republican Court of Appeals judges, John Tyson and Fred Gore.

Each of these judges has brought shame to the judiciary and embarrassment to North Carolina. All voters should remember their names.

They also should remember another Republican, Supreme Court justice Richard Dietz, who distinguished himself by refusing to go along. He dissented along with Democratic Justice Anita Earls. Riggs was recused.

Griffin’s complaint was ridiculous on its face. After losing his race against Democratic Justice Allison Riggs by 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast, Griffin sought to have more than 65,000 votes tossed.

What should have been tossed was the complaint. Griffin didn’t produce evidence of a single illegal vote and the votes he challenged were selectively aimed at voters in Democratic-leaning counties. Yet Newby and three other Republican justices kept the case alive and even affirmed it in part. The Riggs-Griffin race became the last undecided election in the U.S. and a national embarrassment for North Carolina.

Adding to this legal travesty is Newby’s personal experience. He won election as chief justice in 2020 by 401 votes out of almost 5.4 million cast. His opponent, then-Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, a Democrat, conceded after two recounts rather than engage in prolonged and technical challenges. Yet Newby allowed a specious and outlandish challenge to another close court election to go forward despite two recounts.

The State Board of Elections rejected Griffin’s protests, saying all the disputed votes were cast in compliance with the law as it had been officially presented to voters. In short: You can’t change the rules after the game.

Federal District Judge Richard Myers said the same this week. He ordered the election certified with Riggs as the winner. Griffin, at long last, and at great expense to the courts, Riggs and himself, gave up his shameful refusal to give up.

 In the aftermath of this case lies the wreckage of public confidence in the state’s highest court.

The state Supreme Court could have refused Griffin’s initial request to block certification of the election. It did not.

It could have completely rejected a 2-1 Court of Appeals decision that required voters challenged on a registration or photo ID basis to cure their ballots and threw out the votes by some voters who live abroad. It did not.

Instead the state Supreme Court gave Griffin a partial victory. It allowed the votes challenged on a registration basis to be counted, but it required that military and overseas voters who did not submit a photo ID to cure their ballots. The court also approved discarding votes of “never residents,” usually the children of military service members or others living abroad.

Newby presided over those legal contortions to give Griffin a shot at reversing the election’s outcome.

Griffin’s complaint lacked merit, but it was full of danger. It was predicated not on the law, but on the hope that Republican justices would base their judgment on the political advantage of adding another Republican to the court.

It might have succeeded except that Myers, a conservative judge appointed by President Trump, said the law should rule. He found that the state Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court rulings “violate equal protection and due process rights” and tossing “never residents” votes without review of their eligibility “represents an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote.”

There’s little hope for clearing the partisan pollution that has seeped into North Carolina’s appellate courts. Fixing the problem will require an overhaul of how judges are seated. And fixing that problem will require fixing the state legislature.

Until then, thank God for nonpartisan federal judges.