The North Carolina Senate gave initial approval to legislation that would block Attorney General Jeff Jackson from challenging President Donald Trump’s executive orders in court.
Republicans in the upper chamber of the General Assembly quickly advanced Senate Bill 58 last week, saying that Jackson, a Democrat who was elected the state’s top law enforcement official in November, should be focused on the state, and shouldn’t be joining lawsuits brought by other Democratic attorneys general that have sought to block Trump’s executive actions. Democrats slammed the move by Senate Republicans on Wednesday, arguing in speeches on the Senate floor that GOP lawmakers were abandoning the notion of “states’ rights” by taking away the attorney general’s power to challenge the president’s executive orders.
Sen. Terence Everitt, a Wake Forest Democrat, said the concise, half-page bill Republicans were advancing to block the attorney general from participating in any legal action that seeks to invalidate a presidential executive order “reeks of weakness and appeasement.” Another Democrat, Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed of Charlotte, said that while the move to strip this power from Jackson may seem “politically convenient” now, Republicans could regret the change in the future. The bill cleared an initial vote Wednesday in a 28-17 vote. Democrats objected to a second required vote taking place immediately, so the bill will be taken up next week for the final vote to send it to the House.