JONATHAN ADLER: Putting the N.C. GOP’s legislative power grab in some historical and political perspective.

Since the election, many commentators have raised the alarm about post-election efforts by North Carolina Republicans to limit the power of the incoming governor — a Democrat — in a lame-duck legislative session. The new reforms drastically reduce the number of officials the governor can appoint within state government, require legislative confirmation of Cabinet-level appointments, eliminate partisan majorities in the state board of elections and strip the governor of the power to make appointments to the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees.

These reforms, which largely rescind prior legislative grants of power to the governor, were hastily cobbled together and passed without significant deliberation. This is anything but responsible behavior. Yet, as seems lost on many commentators (including some historians), this sort of thing is par for the course in the Tarheel State.

It’s different when Democrats do it.