Slate: “On Tuesday night, over the cries of hundreds of protesters, Republican lawmakers in North Carolina overrode the Democratic governor’s veto to enact an unpopular 12-week abortion ban, a bill that they refused to debate in a public hearing.
Republicans now enjoy more power in the state Capitol than they’ve had in years, after a Democratic lawmaker switched parties to give the GOP a veto-proof majority in both chambers. And it could get worse after they gerrymander election districts later this year, enabled by a conservative-controlled state Supreme Court. That new GOP majority on the court recently reversed course on democracy to sanction gerrymandering and voter suppression. This could lead to more new laws that hurt schools, trans people, workers, and so many more, in addition to giving Republicans near-total control over government in a state that has split evenly and twice elected a Democratic governor in recent years.
But hope is not lost. North Carolina has been here before. From 2013 through 2018, Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in the Legislature. They engaged in a series of power grabs, but some of their most brazen abuses of power faltered after massive protests at the Capitol. Despite Tuesday’s abhorrent circumvention of the democratic process, North Carolina’s citizens can rally to save the state’s democracy once again.”