RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Justice Department wants a lawsuit by North Carolina’s governor dismissed to streamline the legal battle over the state’s law limiting protections for LGBT people.
Federal lawyers asked a judge Tuesday to dismiss Gov. Pat McCrory’s lawsuit defending the law. Four other lawsuits, including a challenge by the Justice Department, are being heard by a judge in another federal court.
The federal government argues that McCrory’s lawyers “rushed to the courthouse” because they knew the Justice Department planned to sue the state. They say McCrory raises the same issues in litigation in the other court.
The law requires transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates. It also excludes gender identity and sexual orientation from statewide antidiscrimination protections.