North Carolina Supreme Court Vacates Erroneous Trial Court Ruling In Leandro Case
In a decision released today, the North Carolina Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision vacated a trial court order that attempted to appropriate billions of out of the state treasury, bypassing the General Assembly’s constitutional mandated “power of the purse,” and attempted to control educational policy from a court room instead of the executive branch.
Key Quotes From the Ruling:
From the Majority opinion: “A dispassionate review of this case’s ever-growing record leads to one conclusion: The remaining participants in this lawsuit are not actively litigating the original as-applied claims. Indeed, in the decades that have elapsed since Hoke County I, there have been no more trials. Nobody is actively prosecuting claims concerning the application of the 1994 or 2005 school system in the school districts specifically named in the complaints.”
From the Majority opinion: “Instead, as the procedural history demonstrates, the case is now a full-scale, facial challenge against the State’s education system. Since at least 2017, the trial court and remaining participants have openly sought a systemic overhaul of the public education system.”
From the Majority opinion: “The bottom line is this: On 17 April 2023, the trial court was not resolving one of the as-applied constitutional challenges to the education system that was raised in the original complaints. And really, neither the trial court nor the remaining participants have been concern with those claims since at least 2017. Rather, their focus shifted to resolving a facial challenge to an entirely different public education system.”
From the Majority opinion: “Nearly thirty years ago in Leandro, this Court warned of the dangers that attend litigation concerning the right to an opportunity for a sound basic education, specifically forecasting ‘protracted litigation resulting in unworkable remedies.’ It is difficult to think of a more fitting description of what this case has become.”
From the Majority opinion: “As this litigation comes to a close a few weeks shy of its thirty-second anniversary, we are reminded of these principles from our prior cases: In our constitution, the people established a tripartite system of government. In doing so, the people did not vest the judicial branch with the power to resolve policy disputes between the other branches of government or to set education policy.”
From the Majority opinion: ” Therefore, the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction over the facial challenge was never invoked, and any order or opinion issued after 24 July 2017, including the 17 April 2023 Order and Hoke County III, was entered without subject matter jurisdiction and is void ab initio. Accordingly, the 17 April 2023 Order is vacated, and this action is dismissed with prejudice. VACATED; ACTION DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.
What They Are Saying:
For decades, liberal education special interests have improperly tried to hijack North Carolina's constitutional funding process in order to impose their policy preferences via judicial fiat. Today's decision confirms that the proper pathway for policymaking is the legislative process,” said Senate Leader Phil Berger. "Today, North Carolina's children have access to world-class educational opportunities because of the legislature's commitment to improving educational outcomes. As we prepare for the short session, Senate Republicans will continue our ongoing focus on increasing parental involvement and educational opportunities for students.”
Demi Dowdy, spokesperson for NC House Speaker Destin Hall said, "Today’s decision rightly recognizes the constitutional role of the North Carolina General Assembly, since the state Constitution entrusts sole appropriations authority to the legislature. House Republicans remain committed to investing in public education, including through our budget proposal to raise starting teacher pay to $50,000 and provide 8.7% average raises to our public school teachers."
Governor Josh Stein said, “Education opens doors of opportunity for children, but today the Court slammed them in the face of students who deserve the right to a sound basic public education. The Supreme Court simply ignored its own established precedent, enabling the General Assembly to continue to deprive another generation of North Carolina students of the education promised by our Constitution.”
Analysis: Why This Case Matters To Progressives Across North Carolina
This case will receive enormous attention from North Carolina liberals and their allies in the legacy media. The issue is not the actual legal matter but the attempt to create a mechanism to usurp the constitutional order to go around the General Assembly in matters of budgeting.
North Carolina spends about $12.75 billion on public schools annually, and the trial judges order would have only provided a small increase of funds overall. Additionally, it’s clear that funding increase has little to no corresponding educational improvements. What matters is the policy of the schools and quality of the teaching staff. But liberals will never concede this point, which is why they continue to demand for more taxpayer dollars to unaccountable school districts.
The real reason North Carolina liberals are fixated on this case is that they want to create a legal precedent to bypass the General Assembly, the people’s representatives, in favor of funding mechanism through lawsuits brought by activists and signed off on by liberal judges. If the North Carolina Supreme Court approved of this plan, there would be a flood of litigation that would require billions and billions of spending by the State of North Carolina, which would necessitate serious tax hikes.
The decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court crushes progressives' dreams of usurping the People’s Representatives at the General Assembly.
