In case you missed it, Carolina Journal reported Friday on the North Carolina Supreme Court decision over the power of the governor to raid trust funds.
An evenly split N.C. Supreme Court means that a lower-court ruling stands against former Gov. Mike Easley in a dispute over the governor’s power to shift money out of the state’s Highway Trust Fund.
The state’s highest court issued its unsigned opinion this morning. It explains that justices deadlocked 3-3 on the issues surrounding the dispute. Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson did not vote. She took no part in the Supreme Court’s consideration or decision in the case.
The even split affirms the decision of the N.C. Court of Appeals, which ruled that the governor exceeded his constitutional power early in his first term of office when he transferred $80 million from the Highway Trust Fund to the state’s General Fund without legislative approval in order to balance the state budget.
“The Constitution and the people have prevailed,” said Jeanette Doran, senior staff attorney for the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law. NCICL joined the case last year at the request of the original plaintiffs’ attorneys.
“The Court of Appeals decision will stand, and government accountability will stand with it,” Doran said. “The people can count on the constitutional mandate that the General Assembly set the budget and the governor administer it as enacted. Voters can count on future governors not raiding special trust funds.”
