North Carolina attorney general fights campaign ad probe

The campaign committee for North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein has asked a federal appeals court to block enforcement of a seldom-used libel law amid an investigation into one of the attorney general's 2020 political ads. Stein’s campaign asked the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Wednesday to grant a preliminary injunction barring the Wake County district attorney from enforcing what Stein's campaign called “an overbroad, poorly tailored criminal libel law." Stein’s GOP rival in 2020 cited the law in a complaint to the state elections board, prompting a country district attorney to investigate.