RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on attempts by the North Carolina Senate to confirm members of Gov. Roy Cooper’s Cabinet (all times local):
11:55 a.m.
Another confirmation hearing in the North Carolina Senate for a Roy Cooper Cabinet member has ended abruptly when the governor’s military and veterans’ affairs secretary didn’t show up.
A table for Secretary Larry Hall was empty again Wednesday. Hall didn’t attend a similar committee meeting two weeks ago.
The Democratic governor and Republican legislative leaders are engaged in a legal fight over whether his Cabinet is subject to Senate confirmation. A three-judge panel last week refused to block the law until an expected trial on its constitutionality next month. But Cooper says Republicans are violating a court order by starting the confirmation process before he’s submitted Hall’s name to the Senate.
Committee co-chairman Sen. Wesley Meredith said Wednesday that he’d give Hall until Thursday to show up before the committee and warned of “consequences when state officials refuse to follow the law.”
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4:40 a.m.
The Republican-led North Carolina Senate is moving ahead with confirmation for a member of Democrat Roy Cooper’s Cabinet, even though the governor argues doing so would violate a court order.
A Senate committee was scheduled Wednesday to consider qualifications for Larry Hall, Cooper’s secretary for military and veterans’ affairs.
Cooper sued legislative leaders over a law they approved before he took office requiring Senate confirmation for his Cabinet. The legal fight already delayed the committee once. A three-judge panel last week refused to block the law’s enforcement until a trial next month.
Cooper’s general counsel wrote a key senator Tuesday insisting the process still can’t begin because the governor has yet to formally submit nominees’ names. Cooper has announced eight Cabinet secretaries and they’ve all been sworn in.
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