North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory. Photo via Flickr user NCDOTcommunications.
Read: The Feds Just Told North Carolina to Stop Discriminating Against LGBT PeopleNorth Carolina is firing back against the feds over the state's so-called bathroom law, which requires people to use the restroom of the gender on their birth certificate, as Reuters reports.Last week, the US Justice Department's top civil rights attorney, Vanita Gupta, sent letters to North Carolina state officials saying the law is a civil rights violation and warning that the state could face a costly federal lawsuit—and the loss of funds—if it doesn't change direction. Gupta set a deadline of close-of-business Monday to respond, and it seems state Governor Pat McCrory's preferred tactic is going after Gupta and US Attorney General Loretta Lynch for a "baseless and blatant overreach" of power.As McCrory tweeted Monday, "We're taking the Obama admin to court. They're bypassing Congress, attempting to rewrite law & policies for the whole country, not just NC." In another tweet, he added, "Our lawsuit seeks to ensure that NC continues to receive federal funding until the courts clarify federal law & resolve this national issue."In what the New York Times is calling a marker of just how serious the feds are, Gupta and Lynch scheduled a press conference to respond to McCrory's counter-suit later Monday.