Voting for president is weird. When we go to the polls at the general election in November and think we are voting for one candidate or another, we’re not.  Not a single North Carolinian voted for John McCain or Barak … Read more

Most North Carolinians understand that when we mark our ballots for Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan or George Bush or Barack Obama for President, we are not in fact voting for those candidates.  We are, instead, voting for a small … Read more

In even-numbered years, it’s pretty easy to tell when elections will happen.  In May of 2012, for instance, there will be primary elections for congressional seats and North Carolina legislative seats and governor and attorney general and judges and county … Read more

           You didn’t vote in the presidential election in 2008 and let’s say you don’t vote in the presidential election of 2012.  You don’t vote in any election in between, for mayor or sheriff or state legislature or school board … Read more

A supervisor overhears one employee tell another that her mother has developed breast cancer.  In that inadvertent way, the supervisor—and therefore the employer—has acquired genetic information about the employee.  Under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), the acquisition of genetic … Read more

First Amendment analysis of government employee speech is seldom a precise exercise.  The law is complicated.  The courts are firm in their notion that the cases turn on their facts and hard-and-fast rules are not really available. Let’s look at … Read more

Does Anytown, N.C.—a town with fewer than 50 employees—owe to its employees the leave rights set out in the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?  The answer is No, I think, but it takes a little explaining to get … Read more

UPDATE February 2017: In 2013 the North Carolina General Assembly enacted legislation requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls and providing for provisional voting by voters who failed to do so.  In July 2016 the federal Fourth Circuit … Read more

UPDATE February 2017:  In 2013 the United States Supreme Court, in effect, declared Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 unenforceable.  Section 2 of the Act, as described below, remains a redistricting consideration, but Section 5 does not. … Read more

Suppose the North Carolina General Assembly is considering a bill that would affect cities, and suppose the town council of a particular city decides to lobby against the bill.  Can the council spend money from its tax resources for that … Read more