NC Newsline: “A North Carolina Senate committee voted Wednesday to advance a bill removing Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s ability to challenge federal executive orders.
The bill, Senate Bill 58, would forbid North Carolina’s attorney general from acting to “file an action” or “advance any argument” challenging the validity of an executive order by the President of the United States — adding to a provision that prohibits the attorney general from seeking to invalidate any act of the General Assembly passed shortly after Jackson’s election last year. The proposal for the added restriction passed the Senate Judiciary Committee along party lines in a vote Wednesday afternoon.
….SB 58 comes amid controversy that has arisen over a barrage of executive orders from the Trump administration that seeking to slash federal programs, deport undocumented immigrants, and abolish diversity, equity, and inclusion programs around the country.
In the first two months of his tenure, Jackson has joined lawsuits against the federal government over the potential exposure of North Carolinians’ personal information to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, an attempted freeze on wide swaths of funding from the National Institutes of Health, and most notably, an order by Trump purporting to end birthright citizenship in the United States. Federal judges granted relief to the states in every challenge.
“Attorney General Jackson has filed four federal lawsuits to protect billions in funding for western North Carolina, our public universities, and rural jobs. In each case, judges across the country have agreed that the federal government’s actions were likely unlawful or unconstitutional,” wrote Ben Conroy, a spokesperson for Jackson, in an emailed statement. “Any legislation that undermines the independence of the Attorney General’s Office is bad for our state and its people.””