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The race, which features Democratic appointee Riggs and Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin, is officially the final unresolved contest from the 2024 election, according to the Associated Press. Riggs, a former civil rights attorney, was appointed to the bench in 2023 by Democrat Governor Roy Cooper. Griffin, currently serving on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, is pushing back hard against what he calls a flood of questionable ballots.
At the heart of the dispute are tens of thousands of votes submitted without valid identification. Griffin’s challenge targets ballots from individuals whose voter registrations were missing either a driver’s license or Social Security number. Additional ballots were flagged due to missing ID from military and overseas voters—ballots that were accepted despite the lack of proper documentation.
In perhaps the most stunning development, the appeals court threw out an entire category of voters: overseas individuals who had never lived in the United States but attempted to vote in North Carolina. The court ruled these ballots violated state residency laws and should never have been accepted.
The decision came in a 2-1 ruling, with two Republican-appointed judges forming the majority and the lone Democrat judge in dissent. The panel ordered the State Board of Elections to notify voters with disputed ballots and give them an opportunity to fix their documentation—potentially allowing their votes to be counted.
Given the volume of contested ballots and the heavily blue counties in which they were cast, this ruling could very well flip the results. North Carolina went red in 2024, with President Donald Trump winning the state by nearly 200,000 votes—a clear indication of the GOP’s strong footing.
As the AP noted, “Riggs’ allies have pointed out that the ballots challenged on the ID mandate, for example, largely came from Democratic-leaning counties.” It remains uncertain how many voters will follow through with the “cure” process now required to validate their ballots.
The legal battle, however, isn’t over yet. Riggs’ campaign immediately appealed the ruling to the North Carolina Supreme Court. However, in an unexpected twist, Riggs herself has recused from the case, likely due to the obvious conflict of interest.
The state Supreme Court now holds a 5-2 Republican majority. While the outcome of this race won’t shift the court’s current political balance, a Griffin win would expand the GOP’s majority to 6-1, making future Democrat gains in the judiciary even harder to come by.
Just Released: Trump White House Collector’s Bobblehead!
And that wasn’t the only win for conservatives on Friday.
In Washington, the U.S. Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump his first significant legal victory since retaking office. In a narrow 5-4 decision, the high court approved the administration’s move to temporarily block federal education funds that had been earmarked for states battling teacher shortages.
According to CNN, the justices ruled that states have enough money to sustain their own programs for now, while acknowledging the Trump administration’s concern that once those federal funds are spent, they’d likely be gone for good. “If the states ultimately win the case,” the court wrote, “they can recover any wrongfully withheld funds through” further litigation.
The liberal justices—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—dissented, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining them in the minority, though he offered no comment beyond his vote.
Two major legal battles. Two victories that could reshape the political and judicial landscape. Stay tuned.
