North Carolina's Cohabitation Law
• Laws and Politicians, Mostly Bad
Despite the American Civil Liberties Union’s victory in North Carolina State Superior Court unmarried couples living together are still violating the law.
Experts said law enforcement officers and district attorneys elsewhere in the state still could prosecute couples living together out of wedlock.
“It’s not until it gets up to the Court of Appeals that it applies statewide,” said Dan Pollitt, a constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Added James C. Drennan, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill’s Institute of Government: “It’s not binding in the same way that any appellate ruling is.”
A spokeswoman for Cooper said last week that no decision had been made on whether to appeal.