The town of Boone has won a procedural battle at the N.C. Supreme Court in its fight with the state over a 2014 law ending the town’s power to exercise “extraterritorial jurisdiction,” which amounts to planning control of territory just outside the town limits. Today’s Supreme Court order doesn’t end the case, but justices have denied efforts from the state and Watauga County to appeal a trial court ruling favoring Boone. Both sides can continue to push their legal cases in other ways.
by Mitch Kokai
Senior Political Analyst, John Locke Foundation