Lottery Lawsuit

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Lawsuit Challenges N.C. Lottery

Special Report - December 15, 2005
The North Carolina Family Policy Council today joined five other plaintiffs in a lawsuit that seeks to have the North Carolina Lottery Act declared unconstitutional because the manner in which the bill passed the General Assembly violated the North Carolina Constitution. Attorneys from the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law (ILC), a public interest law firm headquartered in Raleigh, filed the complaint this morning in Wake County Superior Court. Former state supreme court justice, Robert Orr, executive director of the ILC spoke at a press conference this afternoon about the merits of the lawsuit and about the issues that the court needs to resolve. “Hopefully, this matter can be resolved quickly,” Justice Orr said. “The facts are undisputed; the constitutional provisions at issue are obvious; and we only need the courts to provide the public and the executive and legislative branches with a definitive ruling as to whether the lottery act is void for the failure of the General Assembly to follow mandated constitutional process.”

The lawsuit asks the court to find the North Carolina Lottery Act unconstitutional because its passage failed to comply with multiple sections of the North Carolina State Constitution and requests that the court restrain the Lottery Commission from conducting further business while the suit is pending.

Regarding the recent filing, North Carolina Family Policy Council president Bill Brooks made the following statement: “The North Carolina Family Policy Council is a plaintiff in this lawsuit because it defends the integrity of our state constitution. Legislative leaders took a gamble when they decided HB 1023 was not subject to Article II, Section 23, of the North Carolina Constitution and forced the lottery through the General Assembly. This is especially troubling when we consider the economic and social harm that state-sponsored gambling would bring to our state. We are simply asking the court to hold the legislature accountable for its actions and to require the General Assembly to follow the Constitution when making law. If the Legislature is allowed to run roughshod over the Constitution in this instance, it will only happen more in the future.”

To download the North Carolina Family Policy Council's press release on the lawsuit click here.

To learn more about this legal challenge to the lottery, download our policy paper, Lottery Lawsuit: Insuring the Integrity of the Legislative Process.