North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson has filed several lawsuits to block President Donald Trump's executive orders, but the state Senate is now trying to block Jackson from filing similar legal challenges.
Jackson is a Democrat who served in Congress before he was elected attorney general last year. He's joined with other attorneys general from his party to sue over Trump's orders to end birthright citizenship and freeze federal grant funding.
A bill that passed a state Senate committee Wednesday would stop the attorney general from joining any legal actions related to a presidential executive order.
Republican Senator Bobby Hanig says the attorney general and other officials elected statewide should have less power.
He said, "I think we've gone over the last several decades of giving our Council of State seats too much authority. All their authority is given to them by this General Assembly, and we need to control that."
The bill is the second measure to target the attorney general's powers since Jackson was elected. Democrats questioned whether the bill would have been filed if a Republican had won the office.