RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina judicial panel says some laws enacted by Republican legislators to undercut the new Democratic governor's powers are unconstitutional.
But the three-judge panel also ruled Friday that one law subjecting Gov. Roy Cooper's Cabinet secretaries to confirmation by the Senate was justified.
Cooper's attorneys said in court this month that the laws enacted two weeks before he took office should be invalidated because they skew the balance of powers among government branches and made it harder for Cooper to carry out his gubernatorial duties in the state Constitution.
The judges agreed with Cooper on throwing out laws that shifted his powers in carrying out elections to the legislature and that gave civil service protections to hundreds of former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's political appointees.
