News Articles
NCICL Statement
Jeanette Doran
Jun 28th, 2012
Jeanette Doran, NCICL's Executive Director, comments immediately after Supreme Court decision is released.
Supreme Court upholds Obama’s health-care law
Robert Barnes, N.C. Aizenman & William Branigin
Jun 28th, 2012
A sharply divided Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s health-care law Thursday, ruling that its key provision – an “individual mandate” to buy health insurance – is constitutional under Congress’s taxing authority.
How the Supreme Court ruled
Washington Post Staff Reports
Jun 28th, 2012
In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate—the requirement that all Americans obtain health insurance by 2014—at the heart of the health-care law. Here is a breakdown of the ruling.
Tyler Younts: Healthy sunshine
Tyler Younts
Jun 27th, 2012
Anthony Dent’s June 12 Point of View article (“At UNC, not all the books are open”) chronicled the excuses, delays and runaround he got from UNC-Chapel Hill officials when he requested financial records of university departments.
Supreme Court rejects much of Arizona immigration law
Robert Barnes & N.C. Aizenmann
Jun 25th, 2012
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected much of Arizona’s controversial immigration law, but upheld other provisions, giving a partial victory to the Obama administration. The court ruled that Arizona cannot make it a misdemeanor for immigrants to fail to carry identification that says whether they are in the United States legally; cannot make it a crime for undocumented immigrations to apply for a job; and cannot arrest someone based solely on the suspicion that the person is in this country illegally.
Court ends charter schools’ lawsuit against CMS
Chelsey Dulaney
Jun 19th, 2012
Mecklenburg County commissioners were notified Monday that the N.C. Supreme Court has ended a three-year legal battle over whether charter schools can receive public construction money.
Supreme Court review of health care under microscope (and stopwatch)
Robert Barnes
Jun 17th, 2012
If you thought the ways to analyze the Supreme Court’s marathon arguments about President Obama’s health-care law had been exhausted, you were wrong. A Texas trial consultant with an unflagging interest in all things high court-related has taken a stopwatch and magnifying glass to all six hours and 14 minutes (and seven seconds) of the relevant back-and-forth of the late March arguments.
NC Senate wants higher ferry tolls by July 1
Bruce Siceloff
Jun 14th, 2012
Senate Republicans refused Wednesday to drop their push to start collecting higher tolls this summer from riders on all seven state ferries – including the busy Hatteras Inlet route that is now toll-free. The Senate’s hard stance did not sit well with coastal House Democrats who gave Republicans a veto-proof budget last year, and whose votes might be crucial again this year.
‘Rescue Funds’ In Peril If Senate Bill Becomes Law
Signe Thomas
Jun 14th, 2012
Nearly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an Arizona campaign-finance law allowing some candidates to receive "rescue funds" provided by taxpayers, North Carolina lawmakers are pushing a bill that would end a similar system for some elected offices. Jeanette Doran, executive director and general counsel at the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law, says the state is “begging for litigation” unless it passes S.B. 908. She calls the measure a housekeeping bill, because “the statutory scheme is still there on the books. … Senate Bill 908 just draws our public financing scheme in agreement with the Arizona Free Enterprise Supreme Court decision last summer.”
NC House environmental committee approves fracking
Associated Press
Jun 13th, 2012
North Carolina House committee members have given the green light to a much-debated form of natural gas drilling. The House Environment Committee met Wednesday morning to examine a Senate bill that would direct several state agencies to devise fracking regulations by October 2014. That's when the first permits could be offered.