Senate leader to attorney general: Defend LGBT law or resign

[Kelvin Mace]

Source: Greensboro News & Record

A top legislative Republican says North Carolina's Democratic attorney general should resign if he won't defend a far-reaching new state law that in part voids Charlotte's anti-discrimination ordinance.

Senate Leader Phil Berger said Tuesday that Attorney General Roy Cooper appears to be pandering to left-wing backers as he runs for governor against incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. Berger says Cooper's campaigning is making it impossible for him to fulfill his duties as attorney general.

Berger issued a statement after Cooper said he won't defend in court the new state law that prevents local governments from adopting anti-discrimination measures for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Cooper says in response to Berger's comments that he's doing his job and will keep doing it.


Read more: http://www.greensboro.com/news/government/attorney-general-cooper-won-t-defend-transgender-law-in-court/article_ba5c8e64-85cc-525e-a229-ccd2ac1f8e7e.html

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This will get interesting. Maybe this will help us break the state free from Art Pope and his employees this November.

[Gothmog]

1. North Carolina is going to lose this lawsuit

[Kelvin Mace]

2. Yep

and cost the state a bunch of money in the process.

[wilt the stilt]

3. I believe he said the same thing

to that nut in KY.

[DrToast]

42. Different Senate leader

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Roy Cooper

Last edited Tue Mar 29, 2016, 02:27 PM - Edit history (1)

is the guy who took over the Duke lacrosse case from Mike Nifong. Here he is dismissing the charges:

Here is last week, commenting on the new legislation. Hat tip, Joe.My.God:

[Coolest Ranger]

5. Like Roy Cooper

is going to bow to your pressure. I can't wait to vote for Roy Cooper in the fall

[Duval]

10. Me, too!

Roy Cooper will hold steady.

[closeupready]

6. Fuck that. No deal.

[Mustellus]

7. Doesn't a Democratic Official have the Religious Freedom (TM)...

.... to refuse to do his job too? Just like a Republican?

[Kelvin Mace]

13. excellent point!

[NCjack]

8. Time to make another to Cooper2016 campaign. /nt

[bluestateguy]

9. Or

Or he could deliberately put on a Keystone Cops incompetent defense in court.

[obamanut2012]

25. Totally unethical -- he would deserve to lsoe his law license for that

He's been one of the good guys for a long time now, and he is doing this the right way!

[lark]

11. Asshole!

How about the attorney general supports the law of the country and not some backhand attempt at making discrimination OK?

[Kelvin Mace]

12. Ummm, you do understand that he IS defending LGBT rights

By refusing to defend the law?

[lark]

15. Yes, certainly do.

I was calling the person (being nice) who wanted him to enforce lgbt discrimination an asshole, not the AG. He's the good guy in this. Sorry I wasn't clear who I was calling the ass.

[Kelvin Mace]

16. Cool, just wanted to be sure

[vkkv]

14. The new law is not constitutional, it's an illegal law. A state AG is not obligated to defend.

The same thing happened here in Calif. re: anti- same sex marriage Prop 8.

I think it was then State AG Jerry Brown who would not defend it in court even though it actually passed a popular vote in a general election.
Gawd that Prop 8 was embarrassing for lefty Californians.. Lot's of out of state money came in on that one...

[longship]

21. Yes, and the LDS church helped pass Prop 8.

They were all over the state poking their sticky fingers into things. What did they think? That CA was UT?

Nevertheless, they helped get it passed. Amazingly.

I lived in Ontario, CA at the time. My whole family voted against it. But the Mormons were all over the place lobbying for it.

Thankfully it did not last long.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

29. The Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone

Was also a strong supporter of Prop 8. The man is a flaming homophobe.

[branford]

30. Not necessarily.

Cooper doesn't appear to be claiming that the law is actually unconstitutional, but rather that it's a "national embarrassment" and bad for the economy. It seems he can legally defend the law, but just doesn't want to. That might be a big problem for a public servant.

If Cooper's asserted basis for refusing to discharge the duties of his office is just that he doesn't like a law, no matter how strong his feelings or how much we might agree, rather than proffering a strong legitimate basis for its unconstitutionally, he might find himself and his office is in a great deal of trouble in court. If that's the case, a court could publicly admonish him, direct other attorneys from the state AG's office to defend the law, and warn that his interference in such defense or anything less than unequivocal zealous representation will result in sanction. At the very least, the state AG might need to fund private counsel's defense of the law on behalf of the legislature. In any event, if the legislature so wishes, the statute will be properly defended in court.

[staggerleem]

17. If you won't defend the law that's gonna cause Major Corporations to run away from our state ...

... then you can go run after them!

[Myrina]

18. .... shouldn't the same apply to Kim Davis in Kentucky?

Do your job or resign?

How come it never came to that?? /rhetorical question

[Kelvin Mace]

20. Well, to be fair, that demand was made when she refused by many here

The difference is she had no discretion about her job, but Cooper does. A county clerk does not get to pick and choose what laws to obey. A state AG, however, does have discretion about defending/pursuing law suits.

[SunSeeker]

23. The AG is only required to defend Constitutional laws.

Indeed, as an attorney and officer of the court, he is precluded by ethics rules to present a sham defense of a law he knows is unconstitutional. The ant-LGBT law is unconstitutional on its face.

Kim Davis is only required to comply with Constitutional laws. However she, like the AG, must comply with the Constitutional requirements of their job, which in her case include issuing marriage licenses in a nondiscriminatory manner. She failed to do that. She should have been fired.

[mountain grammy]

19. Yeah, like Phil Berger doing his job

passing unconstitutional laws.

[blackspade]

22. Attorney General to Senate leader: Go fuck yourself

"Berger says Cooper's campaigning is making it impossible for him to fulfill his duties as attorney general."

Says the asshole that can't fulfill his duties as a Senate leader because of his feeble intelligence.

[obamanut2012]

24. Cooper has been one of the good guys for a long time now

I've voted for him.

I hope he is NC's next Governor.

[Eleanors38]

26. The sweet smell of testosterone surprises and confuses the Far Right.

[dlwickham]

27. Give a half assed defense to shut the right wingers up

He'd be doing his job

[dbackjon]

28. Is he saying the same thing to his US Senators that refuse to do their job?

[FreedomRain]

32. first thing I thought of too.

nt

[47of74]

43. I doubt it.

Of course for these teafucklicans racism is a valid excuse for not doing their goddamn jobs.

[FreedomRain]

31. Can't he just appoint someone with the right credentials and will to defend it?

nt

[Kelvin Mace]

34. I would think not

No good lawyer is going to take a case that is prima facia unconstitutional.

[branford]

39. How is it "prima facie unconstitutional,"

and where did Cooper ever make such a claim?

As an attorney, I can assure you that just because a law is bad or offensive does not render it unconstitutional or even necessarily contrary to federal law.

Despite the wishes of the some government and private organizations and most people on DU (including myself), it has not been established in the courts that the Equal Protection Clause or other constitutional provisions protect access to restrooms and similar areas based on gender identity, nor does federal discrimination law explicitly protect transgender individuals. Although some lower courts have tried to interpret current law to do so, they are in the clear minority. In fact, segregation based on sex in lavatories, lockers and similar locations has generally been recognized as a legitimate exception to sex nondiscrimination statutes. Lastly, absent the rare provisions in a state constitution, state legislatures can, and very often do, preempt laws of cities and towns.

[Dont call me Shirley]

33. Threats now, Bigot Phil.

[Bluenorthwest]

35. 5 Democrats voted for that atrocity.

nt

[jeff47]

37. Actually, 12 Democrats voted for it.

Passage was guaranteed due to roughly 2/3rds Republican majority, so they probably thought a little pandering to the fainting couch brigade wouldn't be bad.

[Tempest]

36. Attorney General is an elected position

Cooper can tell them to go fuck themselves.

[jeff47]

38. Theoretically, they could impeach the AG

But that would probably greatly help his campaign for Governor.

[branford]

40. Not necessarily.

See my Post #30 above.

Cooper, as both the State AG and officer of the court, may indeed have certain legally enforceable obligations.

[Initech]

41. Oh man this is going to get ugly.

But if it takes down "religious freedom" all the way to SCOTUS, I'm all for it!