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The Democratic Justice Who Paved the Way for Jefferson Griffin in North Carolina
The Democratic Justice Who Paved the Way for Jefferson Griffin in North Carolina
By Billy Corriher
April 10, 2025On Nov. 8, 1994
Chief Justice Ernest Hornsby lost his seat on the Alabama Supreme Court by 262 votes. But Hornsby didn’t concede. Instead, he asked state courts to retroactively change election rules to count 2,000 additional ballots — and his colleagues on the high court agreed to do it.
But Hornsby’s attempt to overturn an election ultimately failed when the federal courts stepped in to order Alabama to count ballots under the rules that existed on Election Day.
That episode offers a case study for why the federal courts must again intervene to protect fair elections and stop politically motivated efforts to change the rules after the fact — this time in North Carolina.
Hornsby was a Democrat, backed by personal injury lawyers who represented injured workers and consumers. His opponent, Perry Hooper, was backed by big business, and he had political strategist Karl Rove running his campaign. (It was the first step to Rove helping to flip the court from all-Democrat to all-Republican.)
Snip...
https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/the-democratic-justice-who-paved-the-way-for-jefferson-griffin-in-north-carolina/
By Billy Corriher
April 10, 2025On Nov. 8, 1994
Chief Justice Ernest Hornsby lost his seat on the Alabama Supreme Court by 262 votes. But Hornsby didn’t concede. Instead, he asked state courts to retroactively change election rules to count 2,000 additional ballots — and his colleagues on the high court agreed to do it.
But Hornsby’s attempt to overturn an election ultimately failed when the federal courts stepped in to order Alabama to count ballots under the rules that existed on Election Day.
That episode offers a case study for why the federal courts must again intervene to protect fair elections and stop politically motivated efforts to change the rules after the fact — this time in North Carolina.
Hornsby was a Democrat, backed by personal injury lawyers who represented injured workers and consumers. His opponent, Perry Hooper, was backed by big business, and he had political strategist Karl Rove running his campaign. (It was the first step to Rove helping to flip the court from all-Democrat to all-Republican.)
Snip...
https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/the-democratic-justice-who-paved-the-way-for-jefferson-griffin-in-north-carolina/