Election Law
Who won election to top North Carolina court? Case belongs in state court, for now, 4th Circuit says
Names are read Jan. 14 in Raleigh, North Carolina, from a list of over 60,000 people who cast ballots in the November 2024 election but whose votes have been challenged by the Republican North Carolina Supreme Court candidate in an extremely close race with the Democratic incumbent. (Photo by Chris Seward/The Associated Press)
A federal court shouldn’t decide lawsuits over a contested election for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, at least not yet, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia, ruled Tuesday.
The 4th Circuit ruled in consolidated appeals stemming from the race between the Democratic incumbent, Justice Allison Riggs, and her Republican challenger, North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin.
Law360, the Associated Press, the New York Times and the News & Observer have coverage, while How Appealing linked to the per curiam, unpublished Feb. 4 opinion.
Riggs leads by 734 votes, but Griffin is questioning the counting of about 66,000 ballots, according to the AP. Griffin wants to throw out ballots in which voters did not prove identity with a driver’s license or partial Social Security number when they registered to vote. He is also seeking to toss overseas ballots, including those cast by voters who didn’t produce a photo ID with their absentee ballots.
Riggs and the North Carolina State Board of Elections wanted two cases filed by Griffin transferred to federal court.
“While Riggs and the State Board of Elections argued that his case implicated national election laws,” the News & Observer reports, “Griffin argued that it should be left to the jurisdiction of North Carolina courts—where Republican judges predominate.”
The New York Times reports that the case has “unsettled election experts and government watchdogs across the country, who say that overturning the election would undermine democracy and provide a blueprint for doing it again in the future.”
Judges on the 4th Circuit panel were Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush; Judge Marvin Quattlebaum Jr., an appointee of President Donald Trump; and Judge Toby J. Heytens, an appointee of former President Joe Biden.
One case filed by Griffin asked the North Carolina Supreme Court to stop the elections board from counting challenged ballots. Another asked the superior court in Wake County, North Carolina, to review the elections board’s rulings against him.
The 4th Circuit ruled that Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II was correct when he refused to assert federal jurisdiction. But Myers, a judge in the Eastern District of North Carolina, should have based his decision on the Pullman doctrine, the 4th Circuit said. That doctrine can be applied when there are unclear issues of state law that once resolved could moot federal constitutional issues.
Under the doctrine, the federal court retains jurisdiction of the federal constitutional claims, while state court issues are addressed in state court.
The 4th Circuit provided an example of how the federal case could become moot. If the elections board prevailed on state law issues, the resolution of federal claims may not be necessary, the appeals court said.
Another section of the opinion addressed Griffin’s writ of prohibition filed with the North Carolina Supreme Court, which dismissed the application Jan. 22. That sent the case back to state court in Wake County.
Because the appeal had asked the 4th Circuit to retrieve the case from the North Carolina Supreme Court, the issue is moot, the 4th Circuit said.
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