UPDATE February 2017:  Six years after the posting of the discussion below and just three years before the next 10-year census, several lawsuits challenging the redistricting of North Carolina’s legislative and Congressional districts remain in active litigation.  The pattern has … Read more

In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court clamped down on public employee free speech.  But its decision, strangely, may have opened the door to greater legal protection for teaching and research by members of the faculties of public colleges and universities. … Read more

Two years ago, you won a countywide at-large election to a seat on the board of county commissioners, and now one of your fellow citizens, Mary Anderson, has developed the suspicion that you don’t really live in the county.  She … Read more

UPDATE November 2013: The 2013 General Assembly repealed all legislation authorizing instant runoff elections in North Carolina.  As the law now stands, the kinds of instant runoff voting described in the following post are no longer possible in North Carolina. … Read more

UPDATE November 2013: The 2013 General Assembly amended the early voting statutes to eliminate same-day registration and voting and to shorten the early voting period by one week. UPDATE February 2017:  In July 2016 the federal Fourth Circuit Court of … Read more

UPDATE November 2013: Congress did not enact the bill to create the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, discussed in this post.  For the time being there does not appear to be any substantial federal impetus that would force units of … Read more

Fred is an accounts payable clerk for a North Carolina city.  He learns that some of his fellow employees, including his supervisor, are cheating the city and the taxpayers.  Fred brings this matter to the attention of the city manager.  … Read more

Suppose a North Carolina county wishes to impose term limits on its county commissioners.  May it do so?  Could a city impose term limits on its mayor or council members?  What about a local school unit?  Could it put term … Read more

UPDATE November 2013: In 2010 the General Assembly enacted substantial changes to the personnel records privacy statutes discussed in this post, but those changes do not affect the analysis in the post. The city manager enters a written contract of … Read more

An apparent constitutional difference in filling vacancies to appointed and to elected offices—a difference that raised some puzzling questions—did not faze the North Carolina Supreme Court in its ruling March 12, 2010, in the case of Baxter v. Danny Nicholson, … Read more