RALEIGH – Recently Wake County Superior Court Judge G. Bryan Collins revealed himself as a partisan activist with his decision to void two voter approved Constitutional Amendments on the grounds that the General Assembly itself was illegitimate due to gerrymandering. Republican legislative leadership promised to appeal the ludicrous decision, but before that they appealed to any remaining sense of judicial decency left in Judge Collins by asking him to delay the ruling until a higher court can weigh in.
He refused, and thus doubled down on his activism.
By doing so the judge injects a certain amount of chaos into the state legislature, because the reasoning of his order effectively jeopardizes dozens of laws. The decision rested on the presumption that the legislature was invalid and so many are left to wonder if all of the laws passed over the last 18 months are also invalid.
Are teacher raises and hurricane relief funds void? Or only the things that Democrats don’t like?
Republican leadership is now appealing to the higher court to step in and block this ridiculous order. With any luck they will prove themselves to be an honorable judicial body that understands the chaotic implications of Judge Collins order.