--- title: North Carolina Bathroom Law Will Defy Justice Department description: North Carolina Republican state leaders are gearing up for a clash with the U.S. Justice Department over its controversial new bathroom law canonical: https://time.com/4320104/north-carolina-bathroom-law-justice-department/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-05T20:32:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:19:36.517Z article:section: Politics og:title: North Carolina Will Not Back Down From Bathroom Law og:description: State leaders said they would disregard the Justice Department's instructions og:url: https://time.com/4320104/north-carolina-bathroom-law-justice-department/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefdf417074b61701/698892175f570f2cc9b20cd0/north-carolina-bathroom-law-doj.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: north carolina bathroom law doj og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: North Carolina Will Not Back Down From Bathroom Law twitter:description: State leaders said they would disregard the Justice Department's instructions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefdf417074b61701/698892175f570f2cc9b20cd0/north-carolina-bathroom-law-doj.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # North Carolina Will Not Back Down From Bathroom Law by Justice Department Deadline  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian May 5, 2016 8:32 PM UTC  North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory speaks in Raleigh, N.C., on March 8, 2016 North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory speaks in Raleigh, N.C., on March 8, 2016Al Drago—CQ-Roll Call,Inc.  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian May 5, 2016 8:32 PM UTC North Carolina Republican state leaders are [gearing up for a clash](http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-north-carolina-doj-20160505-story.html) with the U.S. Justice Department over its controversial new bathroom law [banning people from certain bathrooms](http://time.com/4314896/transgender-bathroom-bill-male-predators-argument/). The department [sent a letter](http://time.com/4318812/bathroom-law-transgender-north-carolina/) to Governor Pat McCrory insisting North Carolina back down from the law, known as HB2, for [violating](http://time.com/4305058/barack-obama-lgbt-north-carolina-mississippi/) the Civil Rights Act. The letter demanded a response from North Carolina by Monday. “We will take no action by Monday,” House Speaker Tim Moore said Thursday, according to the Los Angeles _Times_. “That deadline will come and go. We don’t ever want to lose any money, but we’re not going to get bullied by the Obama administration to take action prior to Monday’s date. That’s not how this works.” If North Carolina doesn’t comply with the letter, the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ can file a federal court order, or it could begin steps to limit federal funding for the state. \[[_LA Times_](http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-north-carolina-doj-20160505-story.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4320104/north-carolina-bathroom-law-justice-department/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4320104/north-carolina-bathroom-law-justice-department/"},"headline":"North Carolina Will Not Back Down From Bathroom Law by Justice Department Deadline","datePublished":"2016-05-05T20:32:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:19:36.517Z","description":"State leaders said they would disregard the Justice Department's instructions","url":"https://time.com/4320104/north-carolina-bathroom-law-justice-department/","keywords":["politics","North Carolina"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefdf417074b61701/698892175f570f2cc9b20cd0/north-carolina-bathroom-law-doj.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefdf417074b61701/698892175f570f2cc9b20cd0/north-carolina-bathroom-law-doj.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"north carolina bathroom law doj","caption":"north carolina bathroom law doj","creditText":"Al Drago—CQ-Roll Call,Inc.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4320104/north-carolina-bathroom-law-justice-department/","name":"North Carolina Will Not Back Down From Bathroom Law by Justice Department Deadline"}}]}] ```