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The Bulletin compiles news from in and around the US South. We hope these posts will provide space for lively discussion and debate regarding issues of importance to those living in and intellectually engaging with the US South.
- In North Carolina, the state Supreme Court rejected a request filed by several state organizations asking that recently re-elected Justice Paul Newby recuse himself from ruling on a case alleging that the state Republican Party "improperly limited" the influence of African American and other minority voters in North Carolina in the latest round of redistricting following the 2010 census. The plaintiff group (which includes the North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Democracy North Carolina, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and the League of Women Voters) argues that Super-Political Action Committee (Super-PAC) funds raised largely by Republican groups and used in Newby's re-election campaign represent conflicts of interest for the Justice because "the integrity of the court's justices and the proceedings cannot be influenced by money or even have the appearance of being sold to the highest bidder." For more on the contentious debate surrounding redistricting in North Carolina, see Kareem Crayton's lecture, "Law and Politics on the Edge: North Carolina's Latest Chapter in Redistricting," delivered as a part of the James A. Hutchins Lecture Series at the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on September 27, 2012.
- In South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley announced that she will appoint Congressman Tim Scott (R-Charleston) to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Republican Senator Jim DeMint. When he is sworn into office in January, Tim Scott will be the only African American in the Senate and just the fifth to serve since Reconstruction. Scott is the first African American Senator in South Carolina's history, and the first African American Senator from a southern state since Blanche Bruce (R-Mississippi) served from 1875 to 1881. He will also be the first African American Senator from the Republican Party since Edward W. Brooke III (R-Massachusetts) left office in 1979.