Why does AG get to pick his fights?
Attorney General Roy Cooper
Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat who is challenging Republican Governor Pat McCrory for his job, stated on Tuesday that he will not defend House Bill 2 in court. The attorney general called the law discriminatory.
Civil liberties organizations already have challenged the bill, called the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. They filed a lawsuit against the bill this week. McCrory signed the bill into law last week.
The new law prevents all cities and counties from extending protections to cover sexual orientation and gender identity at restaurants, hotels and stores as it voids Charlotte’s law that allowed transgender people to use the restroom aligned with their gender identity.
It’s clear Cooper does what he wants to. His job is to defend the state Cooper of North Carolina in court, yet he says he won’t do it. When dozens of students and other North Carolina citizens ask him to look at the cases of black men they believe have been wrongly convicted and imprisoned, he refuses to do that, too. Kalvin Michael Smith and Dante Sharpe are just a couple of the black men affected by Cooper’s two faces.
Cooper said his office, “will not defend the constitutionality of the discrimination in House Bill 2.” What about the discrimination against the black men imprisoned unjustly? It appears he is willing to defend that discrimination or at least ignore the pleas of registered voters who seek justice.
As governor, would Roy Cooper urge the defense of the rights of some of the citizens of North Carolina and ignore the rights of others?
The attorney general can reconcile his seemingly two-faced actions by doing the right thing and look at the cases of the black men and seek new trials in their cases. With evidence to show their innocence, why won’t he?
Just as he chose not to debate Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ken Spaulding, Cooper is choosing not to do his constitutionally elected job.
Then, voters can select not to vote for him in November. It’s their constitutional right.
