NC Lawmakers Freak Out Over Voter ID Law Subpoenas

When you see state politicians react in this manner, you kinda have to wonder not if but just how many incriminating documents they are hiding:

North Carolina legislative leaders who led the crafting of the state’s new voter ID law have been very open about their support of the measure and other elections changes.

But voters and organizations challenging the wide-ranging amendments contend that those same lawmakers are being far too private about email and other correspondence they exchanged while transforming the state’s voting process…

In federal court filings this month, the NAACP, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union, the U.S. Justice Department and others who are suing the governor, state legislators and North Carolina election board members sought a court order for email and other correspondence.

Thirteen legislators, all Republicans, asked the court to quash subpoenas requiring them to produce any documents they created or received concerning the “rationale, purpose and implementation” of House Bill 589.

Sen. , leader of the state Senate, was among the group, as was Rep. Thom Tillis, the speaker of the House. Others include Sen. Bob Rucho and Rep. Ruth Samuelson of Mecklenburg County, Rep. Larry Pittman of Concord, and Rep. David Lewis, the Harnett County Republican who helped lead the 2011 redrawing of legislative and congressional districts being challenged in court.

In court documents filed this week, the Republican officials argue that they are protected by “legislative immunity” and should be “free from arrest or civil process for what they do in legislative proceedings.” The leaders also argue that legislative immunity frees legislators “not only from the consequences of litigation, it also frees them ‘from the burden of defending themselves.’ ”

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.