North Carolina sues U.S. Justice Department over House Bill 2

Nick Stines
News Editor

      This Monday, the North Carolina Department of Justice deemed House Bill 2 unconstitutional and discriminatory. In response to the accusation, North Carolina has decided to sue the Department of Justice. Senator Richard Burr said, “When there’s a threat by the federal government over funding, it’s something that the General Assembly needs to take seriously.” Music artists and businesses have been boycotting travel and business to the entire state in protest, so North Carolina has lost some huge business opportunities and artist performances such as the construction of a PayPal headquarters and the performance of Bruce Springsteen. Both have decided to ditch in protest, leaving fans upset and potential job opportunities empty.

      The federal government has placed a lot of pressure on North Carolina to repeal House Bill 2 by Saturday’s Republican state convention, and Burr also stated that state lawmakers should strongly consider responding by the deadline. “There’s over $1 billion in education dollars there, so I hope the General Assembly will strongly consider what their next step is to understand the financial implications,” said Burr. In Governor Pat McCrory’s remarks to the convention, he said nothing about House Bill 2 alone, but he did allude towards possible conversation about it. “There was no confusion about restrooms,” is all he said to reporters; they proceeded to chuckle at his remark upon his exit.
      Since there are two sides to every story, both should be looked at in regards to the bill. The federal government is pressuring McCrory to fully repeal his bill. The other side is McCrory, Burr, Tillis, and North Carolina lawmakers, who are all rigidly against repealing House Bill 2. McCrory has made statements in several YouTube videos explaining that House Bill 2 is a “common sense” bill. Upon the release of his video, college campuses, most notably University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and citizens have erupted in outrage in protests and social media towards McCrory’s leadership and lack of tolerance towards transgender people. People have understandably compared it to segregation since North Carolina is the only state so far to have implemented a law this quickly in rebuttal to the federal government’s more liberal stance on the situation. “This unrealistic deadline by the federal government is quite amazing,” McCrory said in a Fox News interview. “It’s the federal government being a bully.” The two expected outcomes are either House Bill 2 gets repealed due to federal government pressure, or the federal government will lay off until McCrory leaves his seat as Governor. The North Carolina General Assembly has made it very clear that they are in favor of this bill, and people in metropolitan areas, such as Charlotte and Raleigh, are exploding in protest against McCrory’s administration. Since McCrory has decided to sue the Department of Justice, they have decided to sue North Carolina in response. It is going to be nothing short of a field day for lawyers as the lawsuits filed against each other involve big money, high stakes, and publicity.