Gov. Roy Cooper has asked a three-judge panel to issue an order to keep Secretary Larry Hall from having to comply with the subpoena issued to him by the legislature yesterday. 

“It is absurd that Roy Cooper continues to make the case that his cabinet secretaries – who have taken their oaths of office, go by the title of ‘secretary,’ collect six-figure paychecks and have hired their own deputies – are somehow not nominated,” said Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham.) “The legislature would never tell a witness not to appear to testify in court, so we hope the court would not tell a witness not to testify when subpoenaed by the legislature.”

Background

House Bill 17 says – and the court recognized in its ruling – that the governor can appoint to vacancies that exist while the General Assembly is out of session. The governor does not have to formally submit to the Senate President Pro Tempore cabinet secretaries he has already appointed in the interim. Once he makes an “out of session” appointment – which he’s done eight times – the General Assembly can take up the appointment upon its return.