“Since the motions to rehear were clothed in Republican Party marching orders, no member of the strictly partisan majority even considered opposing them.”

“Welcome to what will quickly become the most partisan court in North Carolina history,” columnist Gene Nicols writes not even two months after the members of the Republican-majority State Supreme Court took their oath and flipped control of the judicial branch. In the last 60 days, the new court has quickly proved that they will fail to serve as a check on Republican legislators in the General Assembly, who have been “pioneers” of “defying the demands of constitutional democracy.”

By deciding to rehear two major voting rights cases earlier this month just because they didn’t like the previous ruling, Republicans have made a “partisan charade” out of the independent judiciary, threatening the public’s confidence in the courts and the very foundation of our democracy.

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Charlotte Observer: Welcome to what will quickly become the most partisan court in NC history

• Over the past decade, no legislature in the United States has proven itself more needful of the effective constraint of independent judicial review than the North Carolina General Assembly.

• Reviewing judges determined that our lawmakers enacted the most extensive and persistent “racial gerrymanders ever confronted by a federal court.” The harms had been “inflicted again and again, putting legislators into office under a cloud of illegitimacy” and “denying a constitutionally adequate voice in the state legislature.”

• In a recent opinion, N.C. Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger Jr. seemed to boast giddily while citing a news article which described “a lasting Republican grip on the Supreme Court.” But that was nothing compared to what came next.

• In early February, the new high court issued what the New York Times called “an extraordinary pair of orders” to rehear two major voting rights cases it had decided only seven weeks earlier. The 5-2 Republican majority opinion could point to no changed circumstance to justify the exceedingly rare decision. The altered court membership was all that mattered.

• It’s important to note what a departure this is from legitimate judicial decision-making. If the two reopened cases had not been triggered by Republican Party requests, no member of the N.C. Supreme Court would even have considered supporting them. Since the motions to rehear were clothed in Republican Party marching orders, no member of the strictly partisan majority even considered opposing them.

• Welcome to what will quickly become the most partisan court in North Carolina history.