A GOP-Majority Appeals Court Panel Will Hear North Carolina Supreme Court Challenge
A three-judge panel in the North Carolina Court of Appeals will hear state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin’s ongoing case on March 21 to overturn the results of his highly contentious election. The appeals court denied Riggs’s request for an en banc hearing — meaning the full court. Riggs also filed a motion to have appeals court judge Tom Murry recused from the case, as he donated to Griffin’s campaign. The court dismissed that motion as moot since he was not assigned to the panel on this case.
It’s the latest update in the months-long legal saga over the election — now four months since voters cast their ballot in the race and the election has yet to be certified. At issue is Griffin’s ongoing effort to overturn the election results and have some 65,000 ballots rejected that he argues shouldn’t have been counted. It comes almost a month after the North Carolina Supreme Court — the very court Griffin is seeking a seat on — denied his petition to bypass the appeals court entirely and have the state’s highest court rule on the matter.
Griffin lost his election to incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs (D) in November, but the election was close enough that he challenged the election results. Even after two recounts, Riggs still won but Griffin filed multiple lawsuits challenging the election results. At the heart of the issue is the NCSBE’s decision to count some 65,000 ballots cast by voters with allegedly incomplete registrations, along with ballots by overseas voters who didn’t provide their photo ID with their absentee ballots and overseas voters who never resided in North Carolina.
The legal fight over Griffin’s challenge has been a long and winding one. After Griffin filed his first petition in the state Supreme Court in December, the NCSBE motioned to have the case moved to federal court. Last month, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the case to proceed in state court — but the court added that the lawsuit could return to federal court if their outstanding federal legal issues after litigation plays out in North Carolina state courts., The state Supreme Court has blocked certification of the election while litigation continues — now in the appeals court after the Wake County Superior Court, in early February, rejected Griffin’s petitions.