The spouses of two state Republican Supreme Court justices were top donors to GOP Judge Jefferson Griffin in his race to join the court. Griffin, a judge on the state Court of Appeals, is trying to unseat incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs.

Monday’s arguments focused on whether the case should be decided by state or federal courts — a decision which could be crucial in whether the results of the race are ultimately overturned.

In this moment of crisis, the courts have become the final guardrail against the forces of authoritarianism that seek to undermine the will of the voters.

Experts believe Griffin wants to only have the case be argued at the state level, as the State Supreme Court has a 5-1 conservative majority.

A federal appeals panel argued with lawyers over the still-unresolved election for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat.

A federal appeals panel exchanged arguments Monday with lawyers over a still-unresolved November election for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat, immersed in jurisdictional questions over which courts should determine whether roughly 66,

Allison Riggs appears to have narrowly won her reelection race. But two of the justices who may decide the case have spouses who donated to her challenger.

In a pivotal hearing in the North Carolina Supreme Court elections case, the lawyer representing the state Board of Elections faced a barrage of questions from a federal court of appeals judge about the appropriateness of calling back to federal court a case that the state Supreme Court had acted on.