RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina Republican legislators want to get formally involved in a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s latest voter identification law because they say Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein can’t be trusted to defend it.
House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger filed a motion Monday to become legal parties in the state NAACP litigation against Cooper and state elections officials. Stein’s office likely would represent those defendants in court. The new law sets the details of a photo ID mandate added to the state constitution by voters in November.
Berger and Moore’s lawyers write that Cooper vetoed the implementing legislation and has been a longstanding voter ID opponent, while Stein sought to uphold a 2016 ruling striking down a prior voter ID law.
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