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Granger for the ones who get it done. It's 505 and welcome into a Wednesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. Justice Allison Riggs was officially seated for her eight-year term in the swearing-in ceremony that took place yesterday at the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Paul Newby officiated the event and welcomed Justice Riggs back to her seat on the bench. In a post on her social media, Riggs said, quote, It is my honor to serve the people of North Carolina, and I am committed to defending the rule of law and upholding the Constitution with the utmost independence and integrity. I am so grateful for all of the people who made this swearing-in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court possible. This ceremony came at the end of a months-long political battle between Riggs, a Democrat, and her Republican challenger, North Carolina appellate judge Jefferson Griffin. Riggs, who was appointed to the seat in 2023 by former Governor Roy Cooper, enjoyed a short stint on the state's highest court before she ran to retain her seat in the fall of last year.
This election led to a drawn-out legal battle as Griffin challenged the results, believing that the results were close enough that eliminating certain ballots that should have not been counted would rather reverse the result. Final vote counts showed that Riggs led Griffin by 734 out of more than 5.5 million ballots cast throughout the state last fall. Griffin, however, had challenged more than 65,000 ballots. in a legal dispute that moved both through state and federal courts. For nearly six months, this election was left undecided as the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled first in favor of Griffin, as many of the ballots uh cast were from North Carolinians deployed in the armed services or residing abroad.
The court's decision stated that these ballots were invalid due to a lack of photo identification or a copy thereof. Then the U.S. District Court Richard Myers overturned the ruling as the federal judge determined that the state court ignored a directive from the state board of elections that does not require overseas voters to provide photo identification. As a result, Myers ruled in favor of Justice Riggs as the winner of the Supreme Court seat, and Griffin rescinded his challenges. That was back a few months ago.
While this ruling took place in May, Justice Riggs already took her oath of office. She was not formally seated until mid-June. This is not an unusual occurrence as the oath of office is always taken first, allowing a justice to begin their duties as soon as possible. In this case, since Justice Riggs was already serving on the bench, there was no delay or issues as she maintained her duties throughout the legal battles. With Riggs' retention of her seat, the partisan split of the North Carolina Supreme Court does remain a 5-2 majority for Republican justices, 5 Republicans, 2 Democrats, and again, they serve eight-year terms on the North Carolina Supreme Court.
You are very well aware of the legal battle if you've been listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour for any period of time. We've got some additional details on this swearing-in ceremony and some of the ongoing legal challenges that took place over the last six months or so over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com, where it's now 509, News Talk 1110-993, WBT. We have been keeping an eye on a variety of battles between the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly and Democrat governors here in North Carolina, previously Roy Cooper, now Josh Stein, as it relates to various appointment authorities on commissions across the state of North Carolina, maybe the State Board of Elections. I know we've covered that in the past. To get some details as it relates this morning to the State Highway Patrol, Mitch Kokai from the John Loc Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Mitch, I know there was some discussion in Senate Bill 382 over moving various appointments out of the governor and into other entities. Was the State Highway Patrol part of that widesweeping legislation? It definitely was part of that sweeping legislation, and it's a little bit different than some of the other topics we've discussed in that the governor keeps the appointment power for the commander of the State Highway Patrol. But what Josh Stein was challenging in a lawsuit was the fact that the General Assembly basically dictated Who he had to appoint.
So, one of the key pieces of Senate Bill 382 dealing with the Highway Patrol is that it moves out from under the State Department of Public Safety and becomes its own cabinet-level department. It also takes on some additional law enforcement duties that had been scattered in some other state agencies.
So, the State Highway Patrol is going to take on a lot more power. And one of the things that was part of Senate Bill 382 is that the General Assembly dictated that the current Highway Patrol commander, Freddie Johnson, would get a new term. That Josh Dine would have to appoint him to a new term on July 1st, and that term would last five years.
So, Josh Dine went to court and basically said, Wait a minute, this is the legislature dictating who's the head of the Highway Patrol. This is something that's been under the governor's control for years and years and years. And basically, giving him a five-year term means that I would not have any chance to remove. Freddie Johnson at any point during my term because his term ends in 2028.
So, this was a case where the General Assembly justified this change by saying we're making this sweeping change to the authority of the State Highway Patrol, and it makes sense for the person who's been leading the patrol to continue doing that until all of the things have been worked out with the change going on with the patrol.
So, this case went to a three-judge. Superior Court panel this week. The panel heard a little bit more than an hour of arguments on Monday morning, and then within five hours, issued a ruling completely ruling in favor of the legislative leaders and the Highway Patrol Commander, because he was one of the people who was sued, ruling in their favor and against Josh Stein. And it was a very short ruling. Taking everything together, it was three pages, substantively, really less than a page.
And it basically said that the plaintiff, the governor, hadn't proven that there was any constitutional problem with this law. And so they ruled completely in favor of the General Assembly and the State Highway Patrol Commander and completely against Governor Stein. Its summary judgment, which means that the case is over without a trial.
Now, the governor could appeal. But if he doesn't appeal, it's definitely over. He will have to appoint Freddie Johnson for another five-year term, and he would stay in office without any change until 2030. You know, when you talk about this idea that it was not seen, at least in the eyes of the court, as something that was unconstitutional on behalf of the North Carolina General Assembly, Mitch, I'm getting some PTSD, some flashbacks to our previous discussions as it related to the State Board of Elections. That was a similar argument that Democrat Governor Josh Stein and others made: the Constitution somehow protected their authority over the state board.
Legislative leaders in Raleigh said the Constitution doesn't spell out that this is solely your authority. Is it safe to say it's the same thing here with the State Highway Patrol? This is a common theme in these fights between Governor Stein and the General Assembly. The General Assembly, of course, is the lawmaking branch of North Carolina government. And basically, their argument is: unless the state constitution specifically says we can't do something, we can do it.
And so they say that they can make this appointment for the Highway Patrol Commander. They can move the state board of elections under the state auditor. They can make other changes to boards and commissions because the state constitution doesn't specifically say they can't do it. The argument on the other side from Governor Stein is Typically, traditionally, these have been authorities that are under the governor, and pieces of the Constitution called the Vesting Clause and the Take Care Clause ensure that the governor is the head of the executive branch and needs to have sufficient authority over the executive branch. We saw in the discussion about moving the state board of elections under the auditor Dave Bollock that the General Assembly's response, and something that has, at least in the appellate court level, been successful, is the argument that, look, we don't have what's called a unitary executive.
The governor doesn't control everything within the executive branch. He does have substantial control over a number of departments of state government, but there are these separate members of the Council of State who are elected statewide, and they control various pieces of the executive branch, and the General Assembly can assign new duties to those members of the Council of State.
Now, this is slightly different when we're talking about the highway patrol because this is not being moved under another member of the Council of State. But the argument that was successful with this three-judge panel, which I should point out, was two Republicans and one Democrat.
So it wasn't just three Republicans giving Republicans a win. The person who was leading the panel was the Democratic Judge Stuart Albright from Greensboro. And basically, the argument was that the Constitution gives the General Assembly law-making authority. It does give the governor executive authority, but it doesn't give him complete control over the executive branch. And a law like this one that reorganizes the state highway patrol and says that the governor gets to make the appointment, but the governor has to, for this first five-year term, appoint a particular individual, that that, in the eyes of the judges, is constitutional.
One of the other things that I should note is that this is. Also being promoted by the General Assembly as a one-time deal. They're saying the governor maintains the appointment authority over the state highway patrol commander. And once this term ends in 2030, there's not going to be the legislature dictating someone else to become the next highway patrol commander. Once again, this authority will rest with the governor, whoever that may be in 2030.
It might be Josh Stein or it could be someone else. We'll continue the discussion over the state highway patrol with Mitch Gokai from the John Locke Foundation. After this, you're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. It is Ryan here and I have a question for you. What do you do when you win?
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Terms and conditions apply. 21 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 11:10, 99.3 WBT. And continuing updates on some very interesting social media controversy that took place over the weekend.
Representative Julie Von Haven apologized Tuesday evening on the floor of the North Carolina House after she posted a controversial video Saturday afternoon as part of the No Kings Day protest. The now deleted Facebook post by the Democrat from Apex, which is in Wake County, contained a video, contained an image of a protester holding a sign with a guillotine and a mask appearing to be a beheaded President Donald Trump. This is what the representative had to say on the House floor yesterday evening. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all today.
This weekend, I shared a video montage on Facebook that included an image that was inappropriate. I realized that quickly and took the post down and I want to apologize today. I apologize to members of the House, to my constituents, and to any North Carolinian who is offended by what I posted. I'm sorry. Every one of us needs to take accountability for when we make mistakes.
I am taking that accountability today, and I appreciate the opportunity to do so. Thank you. After those comments on the House floor, the Speaker of the North Carolina House in Destin Hall encouraged members of his body to be mindful of what is being posted online. He told the crowd: quote, one of the things you learn here is you have the ability to make national news if you post something that you shouldn't online. And what that ends up doing is putting not only you and yourself in danger, but other members of this body.
Hall also mentioned the targeted political attacks on Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, as well as State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, who were all shot in their homes on Saturday in Minnesota. Hall later told reporters that Von Haven's actions were, quote, inappropriate and that further action still might be taken against her, telling reporters, quote, ultimately the body decides on what consequences of things are. I can decree one way or the other, but they get to decide at the end of the day.
So we will continue to watch this unfold in the North Carolina General Assembly. We do have coverage of this over the weekend over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com, where it's now 524, News Talk 1110-993, WBT. Continuing our discussion this morning with Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation over an interesting legal battle between the North Carolina General Assembly and Governor Josh Stein over the State Highway Patrol. And so as you're walking us through these details, you noted at the top that this is being moved, the State Highway Patrol SHP is being moved out of DPS into its own entity. Mitch, that should be pretty relevant for folks here in North Carolina.
DPS is a monster entity here in the state of North Carolina. It is wide-sweeping, and there is a lot that is under DPS control. Do we have any idea what the practicality of moving SHP out of the Department of Public Safety actually looks like or means?
Well, I don't think we're going to be exactly sure until this actually comes to pass because the Highway Patrol. Pretty much operates on its own. It is a branch of the Department of Public Safety, but the Department of Public Safety, we really haven't heard a lot of stories about it stepping in and trying to get the patrol to do things differently than it does. But now the Highway Patrol basically doesn't have that extra layer between the top levels of the state government and the actual functioning of the Highway Patrol troopers. They will be at the level where they will answer to the governor.
And as Josh Dine argued in the suit, they don't really answer to the governor if he can't remove the commander. But as was pointed out in this court hearing, the governor still has control over the individual members of the patrol. He can have them removed. He can also block them from becoming members of the patrol. But I think we will learn much more about this as the patrol takes over some of the other pieces of statewide law enforcement that are being moved under the Highway Patrol.
Do those folks who are in these other agencies or departments, do they become much more like the patrol? Do they take on some of the same characteristics that we've seen over the years from the patrol? I think that's going to be something definitely to watch. Do we know explicitly what exactly would move under this new entity, which would be the State Highway Patrol, assemp as essentially its own little silo? Do we know exactly what some of that stuff might be?
Yeah, we do. It's spelled out in the law. And one of the reasons I wasn't more specific about it is I don't remember off the top of my head all of the various pieces that are moving in there, but they are spelled out in the law.
So this is not a mystery. It's statewide law enforcement sections that have been. buried in some other parts of state government over the years. Different branches or different parts of the state government have accumulated. I've got this little service here and I've got this little service here.
What the General Assembly was deciding to do was we're going to make the State Highway Patrol a cabinet level agency. And to do that, let's put under the patrol other parts of the executive branch that seem to be dealing with statewide law enforcement and that would make sense to put under the patrol. This is not something that's entirely new in terms of taking law enforcement agencies and moving them around. Remember, for years and years, the SBI was under the The Attorney General and the General Assembly decided it didn't make sense for that to be the case, move the SBI out, make the State Bureau of Investigation a much more independent outlet. And I think that's what they decided to do as well with the State Highway Patrol.
It didn't make sense for it to be part of a branch that was really controlled by a politician, the governor. It made more sense for it to be a little bit more on its own.
Now, the governor, of course, will maintain the governor's office, that is, will maintain the appointment power for the Highway Patrol. But it's a branch that will get a lot more attention on its own rather than being buried under the Department of Public Safety, which under the Secretary of Public Safety has been much more of a political operation. Yeah, I think that that SBI example is a great one. I appreciate you bringing that up. And, Mitch, I may have missed when you said it.
This was a three-judge panel: two Democrats, one Republican. We've seen a lot of very politically split court cases over the last couple of months here in North Carolina. Was this a unanimous decision by this bipartisan board? It was a unanimous decision, and it was two Republicans and a Democrat.
Now, the Democrat was the lead judge who was leading the hearing, but it was two Republicans, one Democrat. It was a unanimous decision, a decision made roughly five hours after the hearing. And one of the other interesting points about the hearing was that. No one among the judges really asked any questions, nothing about the arguments. There were a couple of technical questions about the way that the ruling would be made.
But in terms of listening to the arguments on both sides, the judges had no questions. I think they were probably. Pretty much on the path to their decision and just wanted to hear what the lawyers on both sides had to say. And within five hours of that hearing, they were able to come up with a very brief decision that said: the plaintiff didn't make his case, the defendants win on all counts, we grant them summary judgment.
Now you mentioned that the governor, at least at this point, has not decided whether he's going to move forward with this. But for all intents and purposes, as we chat right now, this situation is said and done unless the governor decides to appeal. Presumably, he would just bring this to the court of appeals if he was to move forward with it? Yes.
Now, it's most likely that it would go to the Court of Appeals. It's possible that if the governor wants to appeal this, he would appeal it directly to the state Supreme Court. Because remember, the key piece of trying to get this resolved now is that on July 1st, Governor Stein is called on to appoint the current commander, Freddie Johnson, to a new five-year term.
So the idea was to try to get this resolved before July 1st. If Governor Stein is going to appeal, he's going to have to do it fairly quickly. We've got there's a lot more background and some history and some details on this story, which you can read over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the great update this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
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Terms and conditions apply. It's 538. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-993 WBT, North Carolina's shrimp industry, faces a potential crackdown as state senators pushed forward a bill yesterday with a controversial amendment banning shrimp trawling within a half mile of the shoreline and inshore waters. House Bill 442 passed the House in May, aiming to expand recreational flounder and red snapper fishing.
However, during a Tuesday morning meeting, legislators in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Energy, and Environment added a last-minute shrimp amendment prohibiting trawling in coastal fishing waters and within one half mile of the shoreline, which would be effective December 1st of this year. Senator David Craben, the Republican out of Randolph County who introduced the amendment, said, An estimated four pounds of bycatch, meaning species that were inadvertently caught brought in, were caught per pound of shrimp. He told his fellow members of the General Assembly: which is a lot of other species of fish that are getting caught in the net, potentially dying. This has been an issue for quite some time, and I think it's time this body addresses it. Supporters of this amendment argue it aligns North Carolina with our neighbors in both South Carolina and Virginia, reducing bycatch and protecting estuarian habitats for fish and many other marine wildlife.
The bill proposes a recreational fishing season for flounder of not less than six weeks between May 15th and November the 15th annually. With a limit of one fish per person per day. Similarly, a year-round red snapper season with a limit of two fish per person per day and a 20-inch size limit in state waters would also be in this legislation. Representative Frank Eiler, the Republican from Brunswick County, one of the bill's primary sponsors, told the committee that the recreational fishing industry has an economic impact of more than $2 billion. Similarly, the commercial industry has an economic impact of more than $200 million.
One of the fishermen told, one fisherman told Eiler that he was tired of buying four fishing licenses to fish in other states. Senator Bobby Hoenig, the Republican out of Curatuck County, raised several concerns about the amendment, including the need to wait for results of relevant pending lawsuits and not wait for a study commissioned in 2022 to address the issues. Representative Hoenig asked what data was being used to support this amendment. He alleged that the amendment would put people out of work in the fishing industry, arguing that the amendment would completely shut it down in many cases. According to Hoenig, 75% of shrimp caught in North Carolina are caught where this amendment would be in effect.
Senator Craven responded that no one is being put out of work. Shrimp trawlers are allowed to continue their occupation as long as it's at least a half mile off the coast. Representative Hayning said, quote, ladies and gentlemen, I urge you not to seek a ban on inshore shrimp trawling. This bill started out as a great step forward, one that restores reasonable access to flounder for both recreational and commercial fisheries. This bill comes from progress, cooperation, and long overdue relief from closures derived from flawed science and outdated rules that hurt both industries.
Throwing in this trawling ban at the 23rd hour undermines the intent and the spirit of the bill. Representative Hoenig attempted to introduce a substitution amendment during the agriculture meeting, but was prohibited from doing so. Senate Rules Chair Bill Rabin said that according to the State Senate Rule 22, subject rule 19, substitute amendments are a floor maneuver, not a committee maneuver. And the committee chairman has the sole discretion on what things are or are not allowed in committees. Local shrimpers and business owners were present and slammed the amendment in the General Assembly yesterday.
They warned of economic devastation that could come from the provision for smaller coastal communities. Thomas Newman, a full-time commercial fisherman who also works part-time for the North Carolina Fishermen's Association, called it a devastating blow to counties like Hyde and Pamlico, where 75% of the state shrimp are harvested inshore, which is what this legislation would ban. He warned that smaller boats cannot safety trawl offshore, which could put lives at risk. He told the members of the General Assembly: Shrimping is a lifeblood of a lot of communities in mainland Dare, Mainland Hyde, Beaufort, Pamlico, Craig, and Carteret counties. If you cut off this, you're going to cut off 75% of the shrimp we produce.
75% of the boats that harvest shrimp in this state are 50 feet or less. They cannot work in ocean waters. They can't safely do it. And some of them are going to try, and some of them are going to get hurt doing it. You cannot do this.
There's no science. There's no data behind it. Noting that the industry is a shell of what it once was, Newman argued that the legislators should be rewarded uh for supporting the industry instead of penalizing it. John Mallett, owner of Southern Breeze Seafood, said that he was for the bill before the shrimp amendment was added. He explained that North Carolina's rocky offshore bottoms makes trawling half a mile offshore impractical and damaging to their nets.
He tried to convince the General Assembly to change their mind by saying, If we go over half a mile offshore, we'll destroy all of our nets. That's people that's passing the and the people that are passing this know this. This bill was fine before you added shrimp to it. This is really going to be devastating, and there's a reason why they did this in the 23rd hour at the last second. A lifetime resident of Hyde County, Earl Pugh, said that the ban could end a multi-generational heritage, crippling local economies and forcing reliance on imported seafood.
He said that the impacts will be felt by local restaurants and the tourism industry, noting, quote, if this ban on trawling in coastal waters passes, the commercial fishing industry in North Carolina cannot survive, which is what I believe is the intent of this amendment. I ask you to please not ban trawling in inshore waters. Remember, friends don't let friends eat imported seafood. Several speakers also spoke in favor of the amendment on behalf of groups that were represented. Cameron Boltz represented recreational anglers and cited a 2015 study showing that 80% of the trawling catches are bycatch.
Chad Thomas of the North Carolina Marine and Estuary Foundation said that the ban could enhance more than 900,000 acres of critical inshore habitats, boosting fishery recovery. The legislation advanced through the Senate Rules Committee, and now we'll head to the full Senate for a vote on the floor. It will be interesting to see. If there are any additional amendments on this legislation, as you heard from some of the quotes, some of the commentary during the committee meeting that took place in Raleigh in the General Assembly yesterday, there are a lot of individuals on both sides of this issue that are coming out in full force. This last-minute change to House Bill 442 in the Senate yesterday, we will keep a very close eye on the details.
We've got them over on our website this morning, CarolinerJournal.com, where it's now 546, News Talk 1110, 993 WBT. Riley Herps from 2311 Racing here. And you know what grinds my gears? Waiting for coffee. But instead of counting frappes and lattes, I fire up Chumba Casino.
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21 plus. Terms and conditions apply. 552. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-993WBT.
Keeping an eye on some statewide news this morning. Justice Allison Riggs was formally seated for a full eight-year term on the North Carolina Supreme Court yesterday. Chief Justice Paul Newby officiated the ceremony. This is, of course, following a months-long legal and political battle stemming from Riggs's narrow 2024 election win over Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin. In a post on her ex account yesterday afternoon, Riggs wrote: It is my honor to serve the people of North Carolina, and I am committed to defending the rule of law and upholding the Constitution with the utmost independence and integrity.
I am so grateful for all of the people who made this. possible as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Riggs originally was appointed to the position by Governor Roy Cooper in 2023. Her name was on a ballot in November of last year where she won the election by just 734 out of more than 5.5 million ballots cast. Republican Jefferson Griffin, her opponent, challenged the result, disputing more than 65,000 ballots.
The North Carolina Supreme Court initially sided with Griffin, disqualifying some of the ballots that lacked voter identification.
However, a federal judge overturned the decision, citing state election rules that exempted overseas voters from those ID requirements. Griffin would then go on to drop his legal challenge in May after back and forth between both state and federal courts. Though Riggs had already officially taken an oath of the office and continued serving Despite the ongoing legal challenges, the ceremony yesterday marked the official start of her full term.
However, with this, the court's partisan balance does remain where it was before the election. Five Republicans and two Democrats on the state's high court. We've got some additional details on that story this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. A panel of North Carolina judges dismissed one of Democrat Governor Josh Stein's cases against Republican legislative leaders earlier this week, upholding part of a power shifting law that prevents Stein from selecting the new State Highway Patrol commander. A bipartisan three-judge Superior Court panel made the decision unanimously.
The judge's decision means that the dispute won't go to trial.
However, if it is something that the governor wants to appeal, he can in fact do so. And Governor Josh Stein putting out some commentary on his social media yesterday afternoon, noting that he will continue to fight for the safety and security of those in North Carolina and that he will continue to do that. Not immediately saying whether or not he will go forward and decide to challenge this, but he wrote, keeping North Carolinians safe is one of the governor's most important responsibilities. I am disappointed in the Superior Court's decision allowing the state highway patrol that is outside the chain of command and unaccountable to voters. The people elected me to protect public safety, and I will continue to do so.
So we'll watch and see if the governor decides to officially appeal some of those. Decisions. The lawsuit focused on a portion of a more sweeping bill passed by the GOP-led General Assembly that stripped many powers away from the governor. The law says that Stein cannot select his own commander to the State Highway Patrol until 2030. The current commander in Freddie Johnson will keep his job until that time.
However, it is noted that Freddie Johnson was appointed by Democrat Governor Roy Cooper in 2021.
So with this legal challenge unfolding, a unanimous decision by a bipartisan group of the Superior Court, a three-judge panel there, did rule in favor of legislative leaders without a trial and have decided that the General Assembly had the authority to move the State Highway Patrol out of the Department of Public Service and restrict the governor from appointing a true commander or leader of that entity, or changing rather the commander or leader of the State Highway Patrol until 2030. The justification from Republican lawmakers in Raleigh was that since the State Highway Patrol will be moved into its own cabinet-level agency, they want to have some general command that continues while that transition period takes place.
So, as the law reads right now, State Highway Patrol Commander Freddie Johnson will continue to hold that position. We'll keep an eye and see if the governor does decide to appeal this to either the Appeals court or go directly to the North Carolina State Supreme Court. We'll continue to keep an eye on those details. We've got a full lengthy write-up this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, where you can read that and some of the other details of this Senate bill that did change many laws here and appointments and authorities across the state of North Carolina.
Well, that's going to do it for a Wednesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We are back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3, WBT. Yeah.
