The North Carolina Supreme Court has dismissed a request by a Republican judge for a seat on its bench, declining to decide at this time whether over 60,000 ballots should be excluded from the final tally in his bid to unseat the leading Democratic candidate,

A contentious legal battle over whether to seat one of its own members threatens not only the future of the court's ideological balance, but its role in the public sphere

The North Carolina Supreme Court has dismissed a request by the trailing candidate in an close race for a seat on the court to rule now on whether well over 60,000 ballots should be removed from the tally.