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North Carolina Open Thread: NC GOP's dangerous constitutional theory, STUDY: NC is chronically ill [1]
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Date: 2022-07-10
NC Policy Watch, Steve Ford, 7/6/2022
Moore v. Harper case could upend decades of established constitutional law and endanger democracy
The U.S. Supreme Court, as if rushing to settle old grievances, in recent weeks has thrashed about in a virtual frenzy of “originalism” – never mind the consequences for America’s civic well-being.
Our federal Constitution neglects to confer a woman’s explicit right to have an abortion? Then states must be free to impose abortion bans going so far as to require victims of rape and incest to bear the children of their predators – unless they can afford to have the procedure done in jurisdictions where such women (or girls) aren’t doubly victimized.
The Second Amendment guarantees a right (arguably a qualified right) to bear firearms? Well, then, states cannot require gun owners to show why they have a particular need to carry their weapons in public. As if letting the number of firearms circulating on the nation’s streets and in its neighborhoods serves a public purpose in an era of sickening gun violence, the July 4 horror outside of Chicago being just the latest example.
OPINION: Blue NC / WRAL, 7/10/2022
The State Constitution has, since 1943 had a state Board of Education largely appointed by the governor with confirmation by the legislature. With no notice in the waning hours of the current legislative session, House leaders introduced and forced through the committee system and on to the full House floor a plan to change the State Constitution to take the appointment power away from the governor and have voters elect the board members.
Further, it would align the board’s representative districts with the state’s congressional districts. Given the legislature’s hyper gerrymandering of congressional and legislative districts – which has been the subject of endless litigation over the last decade and continues to this day -- it would guarantee a partisan majority of Republicans on the board.
Amending the state Constitution and altering the way public education is administered by the state should not be the result of a slap-dash solution concocted in secret and forced onto the ballot in the closing moments of a legislative session. Since Roy Cooper was first elected almost six years ago, Republicans have systematically usurped his powers, and even laughed about it. It's long past time the voters took them to task for such arrogant and despotic behavior.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-legislature-grasps-at-a-solution-in-search-of-a-problem/20359285/
NC Policy Watch, Lynn Bonner, 7/4/2022
The Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit that promotes high-quality health systems, publishes a scorecard each year that ranks states on 56 benchmarks, such as healthcare access, health disparities, and quality. The nonprofit added seven benchmarks related to COVID-19 to this year’s scorecard, including “excess deaths.”
Overall, North Carolina ranked 34th of 51. (The District of Columbia is included in the rankings with the 50 states.) North Carolina ranked better than most states in the Southeast, but lagged behind neighboring Virginia, which came in 20th. Hawaii was No. 1 and Mississippi was 51st.
Most of the state with the highest number of uninsured adults have not expanded Medicaid. North Carolina is among those non-expansion states, and 15.7% of adults were uninsured in 2020, placing the state near the bottom.
Between Feb. 1, 2020, and April 23, 2022, North Carolina had 344.7 excess deaths per 100,000 people, according to the report, lower than the national average. Excess deaths resulted from COVID-19, heart disease, cancer, stroke and other causes, which pushed the number of deaths beyond estimates based on historical patterns. Hawaii had the lowest rate of excess deaths at 110.3 per 100,000 people, and Mississippi had the highest rate, at 595.8 per 100,000.
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