Latest news with #StateCourtofAppeals
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democrats can thank Jefferson Griffin for boosting their judicial election chances
Judge Jefferson Griffin (Photo: State Court of Appeals) Few initiatives of modern American conservatives have been more successful than the crusade to take control of the courts. From the U.S. Supreme Court on down, big dollars and a commitment to hardball politics have helped give Republicans large majorities on several courts where the partisan divide should be about even. Notably, however, Republican Jefferson Griffin's recent effort to overturn his loss to Justice Allison Riggs in a North Carolina Supreme Court election by tossing thousands of ballots, may have flipped the script. Griffin's sore loser refusal to concede has angered so many people of all stripes that it's greatly altered the environment surrounding state judicial elections. Meanwhile, thanks to her energetic defense of her candidacy and the voting rights of all North Carolinians, Justice Riggs has emerged as a minor political rock star. The bottom line: Things can still change quickly, but for now, Democrats' chances of reversing recent patterns in state judicial elections have brightened considerably. And all those concerned can thank Jefferson Griffin for the shift. For NC Newsline, I'm Rob Schofield.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New York's top court strikes down NYC noncitizen voting law after protracted legal battle
After a legal battle spanning nearly four years, New York's top court on Thursday struck down a city law as unconstitutional that would've expanded the right to vote in local elections to hundreds of thousands of noncitizen residents. The ruling from the State Court of Appeals likely marks the final nail in the coffin for the law, as the City Council, which adopted the measure in 2021, has no higher venue to appeal the matter to. In the 21-page ruling, issued by six of the top court's seven jurists, Chief Judge Rowan Wilson wrote that New York's constitution leaves no wiggle room when it comes to who has the right to vote in the Empire State. 'It is facially clear that only citizens may vote in elections within the State of New York,' he wrote. However, Wilson, citing French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote that the U.S. has long moved toward 'expansion' of voting rights, typically via constitutional amendments. 'Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens,' Wilson added. Spokespeople for the overwhelmingly Democratic City Council, which has defended the law in court, didn't immediately return requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Mayor Adams, who allowed the Council bill to lapse into law in January 2022 without signing it, stressed it was the Council, not the mayor, who pursued the appeal to Wilson's bench after lower courts ruled the law unconstitutional too. 'The highest court in New York State has made its decision, and we respect the court's ruling,' added the Adams spokeswoman, Kayla Mamelak. The law would've granted green card holders and some other legal immigrant New York City residents the right to vote in most local elections, including for mayor, public advocate, comptroller and Council. It would not have given such residents the right to vote in presidential or gubernatorial elections. At the time it passed the law in late 2021, the Council estimated it would've given 800,000 new city residents the right to vote locally. But the same day the law took effect, Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella and other local Republicans sued to block it, arguing it flew in the face of the state constitution. Opponents of the law have also claimed an expansion of voting rights would unfairly help Democratic candidate for public office. A court fight has dragged on ever since the Fossella lawsuit, and amid it, the mayor's administration hasn't moved to implement the law. Associate Court of Appeals Judge Jenny Rivera, the lone dissenter to Thursday's ruling, wrote in her own opinion that the city's home rule ability to have decision-making power over local matters should've trumped the state constitutional restriction. The decision from her colleagues, Rivera added, 'diminishes the power of localities statewide.'
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Anson County sheriff seeking second term
Anson County Sheriff Scott Howell is seeking a second term, according to reports from the Anson Record. Howell announced this week that he plans to run in the 2026 election. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Appeals court sides with earlier ruling that decided Anson County sheriff For two years, Howell and Gernald Cannon claimed to have the rightful title of Sheriff of Anson County. This came after a sheriff's candidate died weeks before the 2022 election but still won the vote posthumously. In August, the State Court of Appeals ruled that Howell was the official sheriff. VIDEO: York County Republicans could reopen filing for sheriff election
New York Times
18-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Court Rules Against Cuomo's Attempt to Dismantle State Ethics Panel
New York's highest court on Tuesday rejected efforts by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to dismantle a state ethics commission that had been investigating a $5.1 million book deal he had received, ruling that the body's creation was constitutional. The 4-3 decision was a blow to Mr. Cuomo, who had sued the commission, known as the State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, and who appears to be gearing up for a run for New York City mayor. Mr. Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 amid scandals related to his oversight of the state during the coronavirus pandemic and accusations of sexual misconduct, charges he denies. Mr. Cuomo had argued that the 11-member commission removed enforcement powers from the governor, making its creation unconstitutional. Lawyers for the state defended the commission, saying that the notion of separation of powers was flexible enough to permit overlap between the branches of government. Writing for the majority, Jenny Rivera, an associate judge with the State Court of Appeals, concluded that the creation of the body had come 'very close to the boundary of permissible legislation' but that Mr. Cuomo's 'contention that the commission is controlled by 'legislative agents' is without merit.' 'The state has a paramount interest in promoting public trust in government by ensuring impartial enforcement of the ethics and lobbying laws and the act furthers that goal,' Judge Rivera wrote, referring to the 2022 law that created the commission. In 2020, Mr. Cuomo sought and received approval from a precursor to the commission, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, to write a memoir titled 'American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the Covid-19 Pandemic.' Amid the scandals that led to Mr. Cuomo's resignation, the commission reversed its approval in 2021 and ordered him to turn over the $5.1 million advance he had received for the book. It had determined that Mr. Cuomo had broken his promise not to use state resources to finish the memoir. At the time, the state attorney general's office balked at enforcing the directive, saying that the joint commission needed to conduct an investigation before seeking to recoup the money. Mr. Cuomo then sued the commission. After that body was replaced by the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, it decided to continuing investigating the book deal. Mr. Cuomo sued again, arguing that the new panel had been created illegally. In 2023, a State Supreme Court justice ruled that the ethics commission had indeed been created unconstitutionally, agreeing with Mr. Cuomo's team that the body had reassigned powers that properly belonged to the governor. Rich Azzopardi, Mr. Cuomo's longtime spokesman, said in a statement Tuesday that the former governor would find another avenue for appeal. 'This split ruling is a complete reversal from the unanimous opinion of six judges sitting on two levels of our court system,' Mr. Azzopardi wrote in the statement, adding: 'It is disturbing that any judge of New York's highest court would countenance flagrant violations of the Constitution when it conflicts with what is most convenient to the political class.' In his dissent, Michael J. Garcia, an associate judge with the Court of Appeals, said that the structure of the commission had come at 'the expense of constitutional guardrails on inter-branch encroachment' and that it was not supported by court precedent. Of the ethics commission's 11 members, six are appointed by legislative leaders, three by the governor, and one each by the attorney general and comptroller. Good-government groups and some politicians championed Tuesday's ruling, saying that it empowered the ethics body to continue muscular oversight of the state. 'New Yorkers should be deeply concerned about the former governor's repeated efforts to challenge any independent oversight of executive authority,' said State Senator Zellnor Myrie, who is running for mayor. 'Just as Trump has argued independent watchdogs cannot have enforcement power over him, Cuomo has echoed similar arguments' against the ethics commission, Mr. Myrie said. The commission can return to investigating Mr. Cuomo's book deal as it seeks to determine whether he used state resources to write it, said Blair Horner, a senior policy adviser for the New York Public Interest Research Group. 'The court wisely put the core principle of checks and balances between the branches above a rigid application of the separation of powers doctrine,' Mr. Horner said. 'While ethics oversight is always a work in progress,' he added, 'the structure of the current law has been given a clean bill of health by the state's highest court and can now go about its business without a cloud hanging over its work.' Gov. Kathy Hochul, who created the commission in 2022, said in a statement that the ruling was a victory. She has billed the body's creation as a way to turn the page from Mr. Cuomo's scandals. 'I promised New Yorkers a new era of leadership in Albany, and this ruling from our state's highest court reaffirms our approach,' Ms. Hochul said.
