The North Carolina Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in six death penalty cases involving the State's defunct Racial Justice Act.

The law — enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly and Gov. Beverly Perdue in 2009 — allowed people on North Carolina’s death row to present evidence that racial bias played a role in their death sentences. Those who could prove discrimination would be re-sentenced to life in prison. The North Carolina General Assembly voted in 2013 to repeal the RJA; then-Gov. Pat McCrory signed the repeal into law.

Before the repeal, four inmates successfully used the RJA to have their death sentences changed to life without parole. However, after the law was erased, the inmates' sentences were also changed, putting them back on death row.

The Court, on Monday and Tuesday, will be asked to decide whether the first four defendants are entitled to reinstatement of their life-without-parole sentences, or whether they should get new hearings to present compelling evidence of race discrimination in their cases.

In two other cases, the Court will decide whether people on death row who filed claims under the RJA will still get the chance to present their evidence in court, even after the law’s repeal.