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United States News Title: North Carolina Officials Say They’ll Defy Federal Deadline on Bathroom Law The Republican leaders of North Carolina’s General Assembly defiantly announced Thursday that they would not meet a Monday deadline to suspend or repeal a state law limiting bathroom access for transgender people, setting up a potential legal showdown over what has become one of the nation’s most explosive cultural issues. “We will take no action by Monday,” said Tim Moore, the speaker of the State House of Representatives, referring to the deadline the Justice Department gave the state to tell federal officials whether the law would stand. “That deadline will come and go.” Though Mr. Moore criticized the deadline as “unreasonable,” he also seemed to signal that Republicans might eventually agree to alter the law, which forbids people to use public building restrooms that do not match the gender listed on their birth certificates. “The legislative process doesn’t work where a response can be given by just a few days,” he said, “so we’re going to move at the speed that we’re going to move at to look at what our options are at this point.” His comments, as well as a private meeting later with a leading critic of the law, Mayor Jennifer Roberts of Charlotte, were indications that lawmakers here may be concerned about the potentially damaging consequences of keeping the law intact and defying the Justice Department. The Obama administration contends that the law violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and its finding could push the federal government to withhold in federal aid. The law puts more than $4.8 billion in federal funding to state and local governments at risk, according to a recent analysis by the Williams Institute, a research organization at the University of California, Los Angeles, law school that focuses on sexual orientation and gender identity law. The bulk of those losses would be from education funds, though the state could also lose money for career services, health care, housing and other purposes. “We had a productive discussion, and we’re looking for solutions, and I look forward to further dialogue,” said Ms. Roberts, whose city’s effort to protect transgender people spurred the legislative drive that produced the law. She made her comments after she huddled for more than an hour with Mr. Moore and Senator Phil Berger, the president pro tempore of the State Senate. Neither Ms. Roberts nor Mr. Berger, one of the most influential Republicans in the General Assembly, ruled out additional meetings. “We had a conversation,” Mr. Berger said. “Everyone had an opportunity to express where they are. I think everybody’s looking for solutions and hope to continue to have further conversations.” Wednesday’s letter from the Justice Department brought new urgency to a debate that has surrounded the General Assembly for more than a month. In a letter to Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, the department’s top civil rights lawyer warned that the law was a violation of the Civil Rights Act because North Carolina was “engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination against transgender state employees.” The letter notes pointedly that the Justice Department could seek a court order to ensure compliance with the Civil Rights Act when it has reason to believe that such a pattern exists. Mr. McCrory, who is in a tough re-election fight, signed the law hours after the Legislature approved it in a one-day special session in March, arguing that it was a common-sense matter of privacy and public safety. But the law, which also prohibits local governments from passing anti-discrimination ordinances, prompted a fierce outcry from gay rights activists, as well as several major corporate leaders, some of whom canceled plans to create jobs in the state. That has brought severe headaches for Mr. McCrory, allowing his Democratic rival this autumn, Attorney General Roy Cooper, who has said he will not defend the law in court, to argue that the governor has not been the good steward of the state economy that he claims to be. In local and national news media, the debate over the law has largely eclipsed Mr. McCrory’s argument that he has engineered a “Carolina Comeback” by cutting corporate tax rates and enacting other pro-business policies. Mr. McCrory — who is not as conservative as the legislative leadership and has clashed with them in the past — remained silent on Thursday amid speculation that he might be considering some kind of unilateral action to stave off litigation by the Justice Department. But several legal experts, as well as some members of the General Assembly, said the governor did not have the ability to suspend or revoke the law. Gerry Cohen, a lawyer, lobbyist and former bill drafting director for the Legislature, said that the matter was settled by the North Carolina Constitution, which states that no authority may suspend a law without legislative consent. Norma Houston, a faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of Government, agreed. But she said that Mr. McCrory did have the ability to engage in settlement negotiations leading to the suspension or revocation of the law. Mr. McCrory could raise that option with the Justice Department, Ms. Houston said. He could also direct lawyers for the state to enter into a negotiated settlement of a pending federal lawsuit that challenged the bathroom law in late March, in hopes of arriving at an outcome that satisfies the plaintiffs and the Justice Department. If a protracted lawsuit cannot be avoided, the political effect would be “mostly bad” for Mr. McCrory, said Ferrel Guillory, the director of the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Stuff like that just interrupts and creates static at the core of his campaign,” Mr. Guillory said. “It again raises a question about whether the governing authorities in Raleigh are on top of things.” At a White House news briefing Thursday afternoon, the press secretary, Josh Earnest, was asked if the letter was “meant to send a signal to other states that pass similar legislation.” Mr. Earnest replied by saying the decision to inform Mr. McCrory that North Carolina had violated federal law was made by the Justice Department, and “independent of any sort of political interference or direction from the White House.” At the Legislative Building here on Thursday, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, a Republican, accused the federal government of engaging in “extortion” by effectively threatening to withhold federal aid for education. And he said that he did not expect Mr. McCrory to do anything to block the law. “I expect the governor to stand strong,” he said. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: All (#0)
Who knew that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was really about letting perverts and freaks have unfettered access to girl's bathrooms.
#2. To: no gnu taxes (#1)
40% of Petes family need places to shit. They pay taxes too.
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