Last week, Carolina Journal’s Rick Henderson was on Donna King’s radio show. He discussed North Carolina’s budget impasse and the September 11 veto override. Henderson commented:
“Representative Jackson has talked about possible legal action. We’ve been trying to figure out what he could do.”
Henderson explains that Rep. Darren Jackson, the House Democratic Leader, could potentially challenge what has been referred to as the “veto garage.” The term refers to when the House Speaker leaves an item on the agenda every day until the Speaker believes they have the votes for it to pass.
Henderson explains:
“Speaker Moore actually had that override on the calendar for more than two months before he actually called it up.”
“Jackson may say that this is somehow unconstitutional. As long as it’s in the House rules, it should be constitutional.”
However, Henderson explains, if Jackson brings the issue to court it will likely not be well received by the public:
“It would be seen as nothing more than just simply power politics and probably set a very bad precedent in the way that the state government moves going forward.”
Listen to the full interview below.