FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 11, 2022
Raleigh, N.C. (March 11, 2022) — The Southern Coalition for Social Justice and pro bono counsel from the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, filed a brief to the North Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday, making the case against the state’s voter ID law.
Click here to read SCSJ’s full North Carolina Supreme Court brief.
The Plaintiffs’ brief was filed March 9, ahead of oral arguments in front of the N.C. Supreme Court, expected this summer.
Jeff Loperfido, Senior Voting Rights Counsel at Southern Coalition for Social Justice, which represents five North Carolina voters in the case, Holmes v. Moore, said the Supreme Court brief “makes a strong case” to affirm the 2021 trial court ruling, which found the law “motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target African American voters.”
“The evidence at trial shows unequivocally that North Carolina’s Republican supermajority rammed through its voter ID law, at least in part, to entrench itself at the expense of Black voters,” said Loperfido. “Our brief makes a strong case that the Supreme Court should affirm the lower court’s ruling that the voter ID law is racially-discriminatory, in turn forcing lawmakers to replace their harmful policy with a law respecting the constitutional rights of all North Carolina voters.”
On March 3, the North Carolina Supreme Court granted the Southern Coalition for Social Justice’s petition to expedite consideration of the state and legislative defendants’ appeal of the trial court’s September 2021 ruling.
Southern Coalition for Social Justice originally filed the petition in January, seeking immediate review by the North Carolina Supreme Court because the case, Holmes v. Moore, “raises issues of significant public interest,” and any delay in the case’s resolution would likely cause voter confusion, poll worker disruption, and the real risk of voter disenfranchisement across the state.
Originally filed in December 2018, Holmes alleged North Carolina’s 2018 voter ID law (S.B. 824), approved by a Republican-led supermajority in a lame-duck session, was racially motivated. In September 2021, following a three-week trial, the majority of a three-judge Superior Court panel agreed, striking down the voter ID law, prompting lawmakers’ appeal.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Gino Nuzzolillo, gino@scsj.org, 402-415-4763
Melissa Boughton, melissa@scsj.org, 830-481-6901
Sailor Jones, sailor@scsj.org, 919-260-5906
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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.