Billy Corriher
LightNews LightNews
banner
billycorriher.bsky.social
Billy Corriher
@billycorriher.bsky.social
2.5K followers 990 following 580 posts
State courts @peoplesparity.bsky.social @pppaction.bsky.social
writer, activist, Tar Heel
he/him
#NCpol
Posts Replies Media Videos
billycorriher.bsky.social
Still amazing to me that under Chief Justice Newby, the NC Supreme Court hasn’t deliberated any high profile cases since they legalized gerrymandering in 2023. #ncpol www.propublica.org/article/paul...
November 17, 2025 at 6:24 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
Sounds like Tim Moore’s former Chief of staff doesn’t trust #ncga to restore the cuts to Medicaid services for kids with autism. #ncpol
November 11, 2025 at 4:32 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
The NC Supreme Court, in a 5-2 ruling, strikes down conditions imposed on permits for big industrial animal farming. Earls dissents and warns the GOP justices are making it harder to protect public health. #ncpol www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
At bottom, the majority’s opinion fails to model a workable method ofinterpreting complicated and important administrative law issues. It does notadequately guide state agencies to know what is required of them. It also castsuncertainty over existing public health regulatory regimes. I think it our Court’s jobto read the APA in harmony with the substantive organic statutes that endeavor toprotect public health, water, and the environment to give effect to the legislature’spolicy choices. I would hold that the challenged permit conditions do not requirenotice-and-comment rulemaking and reverse the Court of Appeals’ judgmentaccordingly. I would remand for the court to consider the second issue raised below,whether the Division failed to adequately seek public input on the draft generalpermit at issue here.
November 10, 2025 at 6:26 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
So excited for the 2026 NC Supreme Court race!🔥 #ncpol www.journalpatriot.com/news/earls-g...
Earls noted that her announced Republican opponent in 2026, Sarah Stevens of Mount Airy, is a longtime N.C. House of Representatives member and asked if having another former legislator on the high court is a good idea. Stevens’ House district includes parts of Wilkes. Earls referenced two Republican Supreme Court justices, Tamara Barringer and Phil Berger Jr. and said Barringer is a former state senator and Berger’s father, Phil Berger Sr., is N.C. Senate pro tem. “Do we want a state Supreme Court that has illustrated its independence and willingness to uphold the state Constitution no matter who is in front of us, or are we going to continue to have a court that is not carrying out that function of checks and balances and is rubber stamping the General Assembly,” she said.
November 6, 2025 at 9:11 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
NC Supreme Court candidate Sarah Stevens is being sued in a new federal racial gerrymandering lawsuit. If she’s elected, would she recuse herself if there’s a similar state court case?

GOP judges don’t have to abide by ethics rules in NC, but maybe if she’s a defendant? #ncpol
November 6, 2025 at 2:34 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
This prosecutor stated that he kicked a Black woman off the jury because of her gender (not her race). He admitted it! And the NC Supreme Court still turned a blind eye. Disturbing story by @blackmuse.bsky.social #ncpol
November 3, 2025 at 3:15 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
The GOP is doubling down on its threat to retaliate against the journalists who exposed Chief Justice Newby. #ncpol

Also, I’ve worked with Alan Greenblatt at Governing for years. I will NOT be writing for them ever again.
November 1, 2025 at 2:22 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
In politically charged cases, the justices don’t even deliberate anymore. They just send a copy of their opinion to Earls and Riggs. Newby is truly pathetic.

Good on ProPublica for not backing down:
October 30, 2025 at 12:09 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
#NCGA continues its war on the poor, grilling lawyers about grants to pay for legal aid organizations. www.law360.com/northcarolin... #ncpol
October 23, 2025 at 2:24 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
Two people who represented district 1 for three decades are speaking out against the NC GOP’s plot to dismantle the district, which gives Black voters a chance to exercise political power. 1 PM at the #NCGA press room. Stream here: ncleg.gov/LegislativeC... #ncpol
RALEIGH, NC – On Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 1:00 p.m. in the press room of the NC Legislative Building in Raleigh, former Congress members Eva Clayton and G.K. Butterfield will hold a press conference to speak against proposed gerrymandered congressional maps that would hurt the communities they collectively represented for nearly 30 years. Live video of the press conference will also be available to watch here. The press conference will come before the NC House Committee on Redistricting takes up proposed gerrymandered voting maps that would radically dismantle Congressional District 1 in the historic Black Belt region of northeastern North Carolina.
October 21, 2025 at 2:59 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
In dissent, Earls calls out the majority for ruling on the deference question, when it wasn't necessary. She also agreed with the professor that his statements were protected speech under the First Amendment. appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=... #ncpol
Professor Mitchell’s use of racial epithets did not directly assail Professor Nation, assert that he holds these racist views, or demean her based on her race. This is not an internal grievance devoid of social and political significance. See Guarnieri, 564 U.S. at 398. Rather, his letter expressed his views of how Black faculty may be perceived by a predominately white academy like the American Society of Criminology (“In their eyes you will never be equal to them. They still look at you as a wanna be white . . . .”). That expression was directly related to his earlier concern about scarce opportunities to present academic scholarship. In broader terms, Professor Mitchell’s second paragraph offers his opinion of how Black academics should conduct themselves in predominately white academic spaces. This speech on racial bias and anti-Black racism in academia addresses matters of public concern
October 20, 2025 at 3:03 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
Missed this one on Friday. The NC Supreme Court also ruled in favor of a professor who was fired, in part, for racial slurs. The GOP justices took the opportunity to again limit the deference courts will give to state agencies. Opinion by Justice Dietz, former corporate lawyer:
Put another way, North Carolina courts’ de novo review of legal questions is not a choice, it is a constitutional command. In sum, the deference discussion in Morrell, which used a now-outdated federal standard for reviewing a federal agency interpretation of federal law, does not apply to state agencies and state regulations. Instead, as this Court emphasized a few years after Morrell, when “interpreting a regulatory term, an appellate court may freely substitute its judgment for that of the agency and employ de novo review.”
October 20, 2025 at 3:00 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
NC Supreme Court—once again—rules against a defendant claiming that prosecutors discriminated against Black jurors. The opinion is by Justice Berger Jr., an ex-prosecutor. Earls dissents and calls out majority for putting technicalities above substance. #ncpol appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=...
This formalism has real consequences. In this case, the State struck Juror No. 9 for knowing a Wilson family member from high school thirty years prior. Yet the State kept white jurors who went to high school with the prosecutor herself, cared for the prosecutor’s children at daycare, and were close friends with testifying police officers. The State struck Juror No. 10 for childcare concerns. Yet the State kept white Juror No. 1, who stated, “I do not have childcare on Friday” due to a “family vacation [that was] planned,” and white Juror No. 11, who said, “I have my greatgranddaughter Wednesday through Sunday, every week.” This disparate treatment is the hallmark of discrimination.
October 17, 2025 at 4:52 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
NC Supreme Court rules against the family of a NC State worker who was killed on the job. The GOP justices threw out the case, ruling that the accident wasn't foreseeable. Justice Earls dissents (joined by Riggs). #ncpol appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=...
Justice EARLS dissenting. It is no accident that the majority opinion is almost entirely a recitation of the facts in this case. Instead of allowing a jury to decide whether it was reasonably foreseeable that Mr. Joe Long would be injured when clear warnings of danger on the side of the industrial chiller and in its manual were disregarded, the Court takes it upon itself to decide foreseeability and proximate cause. If sitting in the jury box, the majority’s views would have salience. But the appellate courts are not the place to decide the facts of this case. It is cruel and heartless to acknowledge the tragedy of Mr. Long’s injury and death while simultaneously denying his estate the opportunity to have their claim determined by a jury of twelve, as the State Constitution requires.
October 17, 2025 at 4:45 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
The court upholds provisions in the bill that targeted the governor's appointment authority over other agencies, including environmental agencies. #ncga The judges found that the executive branch (Governor and other elected Secretaries) retained enough control over them.
Together, SB 512 and HB 488 restructured the membership and composition of seven state boards and commissions, including the: Board of Transportation (“BOT”), Economic Investment Committee (“EIC”), Commission for Public Health (“CPH”), Environmental Management Commission (“EMC”), Coastal Resources Commission (“CRC”), Wildlife Resources Commission (“WRC”), and Building Code Council (“BCC”). S.L. 2023-136, -108. On 10 October 2023, the Governor brought suit challenging the enactment of SB 512 and HB 488 by filing: a motion for temporary restraining order, a motion for preliminary injunction, and a request to transfer the case to a three-judge superior court panel following the resolution of the motion for temporary restraining order.
October 15, 2025 at 3:35 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
It's an all-Republican panel. They mostly upheld the trial court's decision. Judge Murry (a former legislator who sponsored the 2013 voter suppression bill that targeted Black voters) wrote a concurring opinion opining on originalism.
October 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
NC Court of Appeals rules that lawmakers violated the separation of powers by taking away the governor's power to appoint the Commission on Public Health, the Board of Transportation, and the Economic Investment Committee appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=... #ncpol
October 15, 2025 at 3:01 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
Judge Maria Lazar is running for Wisconsin Supreme Court. She's a conservative who worked at a corporate law firm for decades. Her rulings reflect that background:
Siding With Corporate Polluters In 2024, Lazar joined a 2-1 majority ruling in favor of conservative business group Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Inc., holding that the DNR’s PFAS regulation was unlawful under Wisconsin’s “spills law.” [2024 WI App 18] This ruling severely limited the state of Wisconsin’s ability to protect residents from so-called “forever chemicals” that can contaminate drinking water. In 2025, however, Lazar was overturned in a 5-2 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling holding that DNR does have authority to address PFAS contamination regardless of whether the agency has formally promulgated rules designating PFAS as hazardous substances. [2025 WI 26]
October 6, 2025 at 2:26 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
Some great conversations today at the #InOurCourt event in Elizabeth City. “Young people are not in the mood to wait for change.” Miles Beasley @commoncausenc.bsky.social
October 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
It would be racist to enforce the Voting Rights Act, y’all. #ncpol
September 30, 2025 at 10:34 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
The future we want is In Our Court. If you're in Eastern NC, join us at Elizabeth City State University on 10/4. #ncpol You'll hear from activists, students, and Judge Eula Reid. ccnc.me/inourcourt
September 24, 2025 at 3:03 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
Very excited for this event at NC Central Law next week. If you know any Central law students who may be interested, please pass it along. #ncpol
September 23, 2025 at 8:18 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
I just randomly found these old pics of Justice Anita Earls. Had to share them. #ncpol
September 16, 2025 at 3:09 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
Really hilarious to read this account of the 2020 NC Supreme Court race (which Democrat Cheri Beasley lost by 401 votes) in the wake of Jefferson Griffin’s attempted election theft. From vote suppressor Jay Delancy’s book:
September 9, 2025 at 8:51 PM
billycorriher.bsky.social
SCOTUS isn’t the only court that wants more power to strike down regulations. The conservative Carolina Journal applauds a bad decision #ncpol www.carolinajournal.com/top-nc-court...
September 2, 2025 at 6:07 PM