A group opposed to the lottery laid out its case today at the state Supreme Court.
The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law filed its brief today in its challenge to the lottery. The group says state lawmakers improperly established the lottery, Titan Barksdale reports.
In a split decision in March, the state Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's dismissal of the group's lawsuit that challenged the way North Carolina's lottery was established. The lawsuit, filed in 2005, contended that the lottery is a tax and didn't go through the procedural requirements in the legislature for new taxes.
The institute points to Judge Ann Marie Calabria's dissenting opinion to reinforce its argument. Her dissent gave the group a right to bring the case to the Supreme Court.
More after the jump.
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"Judge Ann Marie Calabria wrote a powerful dissenting opinion in which she concluded that the Lottery Act is a revenue bill, which was not passed in accordance with constitutional mandates specific to revenue bills," Jeanette Doran, an attorney with the institute who is handling the appeal, said in a written statement.
The appeals court opinion defines a revenue bill as any legislation that raises money on the credit of the state and pledges the faith of the state for the payment of a debt.
The opinion for the appeals court was written by Judge Jim Wynn, who said the creation of the lottery was not meant to repay any debt. Calabria disagreed, saying the state is essentially indebted to prize winners.
State attorneys will file a response before the case is decided.
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