EMILYs List Statement on North Carolina Supreme Court Decision To Block Justice Allison Riggs’ Election Certification
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the North Carolina Supreme issued a temporary stay that blocks the North Carolina State Board of Elections from certifying Justice Allison Riggs as the winner in the state supreme court race. Justice Riggs’ election victory has been certified by two separate recounts but her opponent Judge Griffin is refusing to concede. Despite his clear loss, Judge Griffin and his Republican allies are working to throw out the votes of 60,000 North Carolinians, which were shown to be disproportionately made up of voters of color and young voters. EMILYs List President Jessica Mackler released a statement in response:
“Today’s decision from the North Carolina Supreme Court to block the state from certifying Justice Allison Riggs’ election victory is alarming and a direct attack on democracy. North Carolina voters made their voices clear when they voted to elect Justice Allison Riggs. Judge Griffin should concede this election immediately and extremist Republicans must stop their disgraceful attempts to overturn this election.”
Justice Allison Riggs currently serves on the North Carolina state Supreme Court. She was appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper in 2023. She attended college, graduate school, and law school at the University of Florida. Following her time in Florida, she spent 14 years as a civil rights and voting rights attorney at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham, North Carolina, subsequently she became the co-executive director for programs and chief counsel for voting rights. Riggs has spent her entire career fighting for equal justice under the law for every North Carolinian. She has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court twice in landmark redistricting cases. Prior to her appointment to the North Carolina Supreme Court, she was appointed to the Court of Appeals. Riggs is the youngest woman to ever serve on the North Carolina state Supreme Court. EMILYs List was proud to endorse Riggs in her campaign.
EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, works to elect Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot and across the country with a goal of fighting for our rights and our communities. Over nearly 40 years, EMILYs List has raised nearly $950 million to help Democratic women win competitive elections by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running one of the most impactful independent expenditure operations for Democrats, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 192 women to the House, 29 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,600 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Visit www.emilyslist.org for more information.
