On the deadline for North Carolina to respond to a Justice Department letter saying its sweeping new anti-LGBT law violates civil rights, Gov. Pat McCrory (R) announced Monday he was suing the federal government.
In his response to a letter sent last week by the DOJ, McCrory called it “an attempt to rewrite long-established federal civil rights law in a way that’s completely inconsistent with the intent of Congress,” according to NBC News.
McCrory also argues in the lawsuit that transgender individuals are not a protected class under civil rights law.
The lawsuit was filed under the names of the governor and the secretary of the department of public safety but was not filed by the state’s attorney general, according to NBC News.
McCrory accused President Obama of trying to circumvent Congress in a statement about the lawsuit.
“The Obama administration is bypassing Congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set restroom policies for public and private employers across the country, not just North Carolina. This is now a national issue that applies to every state and it needs to be resolved at the federal level,” he said.
Read the lawsuit:
This post has been updated.
