Questions

Assignments, Work, Attendance, School. Life?

General Assembly Today

https://www.wect.com/2021/03/01/nc-senate-vote-overriding-gov-coopers-veto-school-reopening-bill/

Authority of State Law

• NC Constitution - state's final authority on state law

• several cases have reinforced this authority

• State v. Mann (1830) - 1829 slave master John Mann shot and wounded a female slave owned by someone else

State v. Mann (1830)

• Mann was prosecuted and convicted of battery.

• Mann appealed with argument that the law did not limit the measures a master might use to force obedience from a slave and was found innocent.

• Court ruled that "power of a master must be absolute, to render the submission of the slave perfect"

State v. Mann (1830)

• Judge Thomas Ruffin made clear in his opinion that the court's sympathies lay with the slave and not Mann but that the court ruling must be based on the letter of the law

• state constitution not sympathies of the court serve as the ultimate legal authority

Leandro Case (1997)

• school boards and students from several low-income counties and urban areas sued the state for failing to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide a quality education

• argued that the state did not provide enough funds for "at risk" and bilingual kids in their counties

Leandro Case (1997)

• Supreme Court ruled in favor of students

• Court reinforced the fact that the NC government is obligated to live up to guidelines of the NC Constitution

• Also if state fails to fulfill its obligation, courts can intervene

How the Bill of Rights affects State Law?

• NC is subject to the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution like all states

• NC law must comply and be consistent with federal laws

• 14th amendment - citizenship federally but also state where one resides

Bill of Rights Affects State Law

• 14th amendment states that no state can abridge or deny the civil rights of any citizen without due process of law

• Any rights guaranteed by the US Constitution cannot be denied by the provision of the NC Constitution

• 14th amendment serves to extend the Bill of Rights to the state level