Judges Block North Carolina Law Limiting Governor's Powers

Six weeks into North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's term, the Democrat and Republican-controlled legislature are locked in a partisan power struggle, leaving a cloud of uncertainty over state government.

Cooper won the latest battle Wednesday as a three-judge panel temporarily blocked a new law that required Senate confirmation for the governor's Cabinet members, using a process similar to what the U.S. Senate does for the president's Cabinet choices.

The state law was passed in the waning days of GOP Gov. Pat McCrory's administration and seen by Democrats as a way to undermine the new governor's authority. Cooper sued over this and other laws that reduced his powers after he was sworn in Jan. 1.

The decision by the judges was released an hour before senators were scheduled to question Cooper's pick to lead the department of military and veterans' affairs, but he was absent. Committee co-chairman Sen. Wesley Meredith read a brief statement in which he said senators would still get answers about the qualifications of secretaries and the meeting abruptly ended.

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