The state of North Carolina violates its constitution daily. The governing document of the state declares that it must provide a “sound, basic education for all.” And yet, multiple courts have found that the state of North Carolina does not meet this standard. This standard and the state’s meager response constitute a major topic of education law in North Carolina for the past 25 years.  The court case Leandro v. State of North Carolina (referred to as Leandro from here on) drives the debate around education in North Carolina. As is the case in other states, property taxes from local areas fund much of the education system in North Carolina, meaning that public schools will look much better in the suburbs of Charlotte than in the rural northeastern part of the state, even though both are managed by the same building in Raleigh. In 1994, students from lower-income backgrounds filed […]

Election results continue to pour in, and while we do not know about several races across the nation, there is one loser for sure: the “War on Drugs.” Connecting drug abuse to carceral punishment has long been the policy of the United States, but propositions, laws, referenda, and initiatives across the country continue to display evidence that we are headed in a better direction to end America’s longest war. But there is much more work to be done. Over the past two weeks, our nation has seen an impressive amount of change, perhaps most palpable in Oregon, which passed the nation’s first ballot measure decriminalizing possession of drugs harder than marijuana, including LSD, methamphetamines, oxycodone, and even heroin. In New Jersey, 67 percent of voters expressed support for legalizing marijuana for voters over the age of 21. In South Dakota, 70 percent voted to legalize medical marijuana and 54 percent […]

North Carolina is not new to the voter suppression scene. From “surgically” excluding African-American voters to attempting to steal an election, the state that Duke University calls home has repeatedly tried to reduce access to voting in a drive to reduce turnout. With just one week until the election, the state legislature, the NC Board of Elections, and various other echelons of decision-making power in elections across the country have disenfranchised a countless number of voters with a new tactic: last-minute changes to voting rules, confusing voters, and reducing voter turnout at the polls. Unfortunately, the laws changing and limiting access to voting are most rampant in North Carolina. In a time when roughly 37 percent of the nationwide voting population plans to vote by mail, there is still confusion within the NC State Board of Elections as to the last day when voters can mail in their ballots. Last […]