A panel of Wake County Superior Court judges ruled Monday against North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein in his lawsuit aiming to take back control of the state highway patrol.
The ruling sides with Republican legislative leaders, who passed a law last year making the highway patrol an independent department. The patrol previously fell under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Safety, with a commander appointed by the governor. Now, the GOP-controlled legislature can appoint the commander.
Stein “has failed to demonstrate … that the General Assembly’s act is unconstitutional,” a three-judge panel wrote in their Monday order.
The three judges were Justin N. Davis and Matthew T. Houston, Republicans, and R. Stuart Albright, a Democrat.
Stein has argued that the law “threatens the safety of North Carolinians” and was unconstitutional. The governor would be unable to remove the commander, he argues, even if he were to “commit serious criminal misconduct.”
Attorneys for House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) and Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) said the governor’s case lacked substance and standing.
“Gov. Stein’s lone grievance is that he has lost the power to fire Col. [Freddy] Johnson at his pleasure — a power the governor believes the constitution guarantees him,” they wrote. “The governor’s grievance does not warrant judicial relief.”
In a statement, Stein said he was “disappointed” in the ruling that allows the patrol to operate “outside the chain of command and unaccountable to voters.”
“The people elected me to protect public safety, and I will continue to do so,” Stein said.
Control of the highway patrol shifted as part of Senate Bill 382, a wide-ranging law passed last year that shifted executive power within state government.
Stein has litigated several parts of the measure. Judges sided with his suit to block changes to the state election board; that decision has been appealed by Republican opponents.
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