On Monday, a federal judge ruled that Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs will remain in the final count for the undecided 2024 race for the North Carolina Supreme Court. As of Wednesday May 7, Republican Jefferson Griffin conceded this race after the months-long legal battle.
Professor of political science, Jill Auditori, told Elon News Network in a statement that because the deciding judge, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina judge Richard E. Myers, is an appointee of President Donald Trump, the battle forward may have seemed more challenging than if that weren’t the case.
“This court case has been going on for six months, and it took a decision at the US district court level—after going through the state court system—for it to come to an end,” Auditori said.
U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina Richard Myers emphasized in his ruling that removing votes six months after Election Day would infringe upon the due process and equal protection rights of affected residents. He ruled in favor of Riggs, asserting that recent state appeals court decisions to remove potentially thousands of ineligible voter ballots would violate the U.S. Constitution.
Myers delayed his decision for seven days to allow Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin the opportunity to appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Myers ordered the State Board of Elections to certify results showing Riggs as the winner by 734 votes over Griffin following two recounts.
Griffin challenged over 65,000 ballots in the November 2024 election, and the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Griffin 2 to 1. But the state Supreme Court ruled April 11 that only challenged military and overseas absentee ballots are at risk of being thrown out if no photo ID is provided. That list only included about 5,000 votes.
“What is most concerning is the precedent that has been set: in a previous ruling, the NC Supreme Court was willing to consider canceling votes after they had been cast in a lawful manner, and to consider changing the rules once an election had occurred,” Auditori said.
Myers, nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump, wrote that the board "must not proceed with implementation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court's orders, and instead must certify the results of the election for [the seat] based on the tally at the completion of the canvassing period."
Riggs celebrated the ruling, and said in a statement, "Today, we won. I’m proud to continue upholding the Constitution and the rule of law as North Carolina's Supreme Court Justice."