Bar owners from six counties across North Carolina are going to court to challenge the governor’s executive orders shutting down their businesses. Their lawsuit seeks to have a key piece of the state Emergency Management Act declared unconstitutional. The suit filed in Carteret County Superior Court arrives the day after a similar complaint filed on behalf of a Greenville bar. Plaintiffs in the new suit own and operate bars in Guilford, Forsyth, New Hanover, Buncombe, and Wake counties, in addition to Carteret. “The Governor has been issuing his Executive Orders since last March with no checks or balances,” said Chuck Kitchen, the Raleigh-based attorney representing more than a dozen individuals and businesses. “The Plaintiffs’ argument is that the Governor cannot unilaterally make what has the effect of law without the procedural check of the Council of State. Otherwise, the Legislature should be passing laws relating to the pandemic.”