Lawsuit Challenges Judicial Public Financing Program
A lawsuit was filed in federal court in August 2005 challenging key provisions of the judicial public financing program. Attorney James Bopp of Indiana, a national opponent of public financing, filed the suit on behalf of the NC Right to Life Committee and candidate Barbara Jackson, a judge on the NC Court of Appeals. The suit, amended in September, claims many aspects of the program are unconstitutional constraints on the rights of Bopp's clients and other appellate judicial candidates, including (a) the reporting requirements for independent expenditure committees (IEC), (b) the "rescue" funds provided to publicly financing candidates hit with high-spending opponents or IECs, (c) the program's late-campaign "embargo" on fundraising by privately funded candidates, and (d) the $50 surcharge on State Bar dues to support the program.The State of North Carolina responded to the complaint with a motion to dismiss the case on several grounds. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University filed a motion to intervene in the case, on behalf of a judicial candidate and a public interest group, and it also filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Read the lawsuit filed by James Bopp, as amended in September 2005.
Read the response filed by the State of North Carolina.
Read the motion to dismiss
by the Brennan Center for Justice.
Democracy
North Carolina : NC