Judicial selection in North Carolina

Judicial selection in North Carolina
North Carolina Supreme Court
Method:	Partisan election of judges
Term:	8 years
North Carolina Court of Appeals
Method:	Partisan election of judges
Term:	8 years
North Carolina Superior Courts
Method:	Partisan election of judges
Term:	8 years
North Carolina District Courts
Method:	Partisan election of judges
Term:	4 years

Selection of state court judges in North Carolina occurs through partisan elections. North Carolina judges wishing to serve additional terms must run for re-election.

Across the state's appellate and trial courts, there are seven supreme court justices, 15 appeals court judges, and 95 superior court judges.

Under the North Carolina Constitution, judges' terms begin on January 1 following their election or re-election.

Selection process

See also: Partisan election of judges

The seven justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court and the 15 judges of the North Carolina Court of Appeals are chosen by partisan election. This became law in December 2016. Before that, election of appellate judges had been nonpartisan since 2004.

The 95 judges of the North Carolina Superior Courts are all chosen in partisan elections to serve eight-year terms. From 1996 through 2016, elections for superior court judges were nonpartisan; however, on March 23, 2017, the North Carolina legislature changed the method of election to partisan elections by overriding Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of HB 100. This change was effective with the 2018 superior court elections.

The judges of the supreme court, court of appeals, and superior courts serve eight-year terms.

For more information on these elections, see the North Carolina judicial elections page.

Selection of the chief justice or judge

The process of selecting a chief justice or judge varies by court level:

• The chief justice of the supreme court is elected by voters to serve in that capacity for a full eight-year term. North Carolina is one of only seven states in which the chief justice is elected by voters.
• The chief judge of the court of appeals is selected by the supreme court chief justice to serve indefinitely.
• The chief judge of each superior court is chosen by seniority.

Qualifications

To serve on any of these three courts, a judge must be:

• "learned in the law" and
• under the age of 72 (retirement at 72 is mandatory).

Vacancies

In the event of a midterm vacancy, the outgoing judge is replaced via gubernatorial appointment. The governor appoints a successor to serve until the next general election occurring more than 60 days after the vacancy occurred. A judge is then elected.

Limited jurisdiction courts

See also: Partisan election of judges

The North Carolina District Courts utilize partisan elections in the selection of judges. District judges serve four-year terms, after which they must run for re-election if they wish to remain on the court. From 2002 through 2016, elections for district court judges were nonpartisan; however, on March 23, 2017, the North Carolina legislature changed the method of election to partisan elections by overriding Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of HB 100. This change was effective with the 2018 district court elections.

Qualifications

To serve on this court, a judge must be:

• licensed to practice law in the state;
• a district resident; and
• under the age of 72 (retirement at 72 is mandatory).

History

Below is a timeline noting changes to judicial selection methods in North Carolina.

• 2016: Governor Pat McCrory signed a bill into law returning the state supreme court and court of appeals to partisan elections.
• 2016: The 2015 retention law was struck down as unconstitutional. This ruling was upheld by a divided ruling of the state supreme court, leaving no precedent.
• 2015: Governor Pat McCrory signed a retention election bill into law for North Carolina Supreme Court judges seeking re-election. McCrory later signed a bill requiring North Carolina Court of Appeals judicial candidates to note their party affiliation when filing.
• 2011: Governor Bev Perdue created a merit selection panel to assist in the filling of judicial vacancies in the appellate and superior courts.
• 2002: The Judicial Campaign Reform Act was passed, establishing nonpartisan elections for appellate judges and giving candidates the option of public financing. See the Changes to the courts section below.
• 2001: Nonpartisan elections were established for district court judges.
• 1996: Nonpartisan elections were established for superior court judges, with judges now elected by voters of their respective districts rather than of the entire state.
• 1977: Governor Jim Hunt created a commission selection panel to assist in filling midterm vacancies on the superior courts. The executive order held until 1985, the duration of his time in office.
• 1967: The North Carolina Court of Appeals was created.
• 1868: Established that all judges are to be elected by popular vote to eight-year terms.
• 1776: Established that all judges are to be appointed for life by the general assembly.

Proposals to change selection system

2018

See also: North Carolina Judicial Selection for Midterm Vacancies Amendment (2018) and 2018 North Carolina legislative session

In January 2018, legislators discussed several proposals for new judicial selection systems in the state. One plan, called the Purple Plan, proposed creating an open application system for open judicial seats. The plan proposed establishing an Independent Merit Selection Commission, whose members would be appointed by the state's chief justice, to review applicants. The commission would rate each applicant qualified or not qualified. The North Carolina General Assembly would then review all applicants who were rated qualified and choose at least three to forward to the governor. The governor would make the final selection.

Legislators approved a ballot measure that was defeated on November 6, 2018. The ballot measure would have created a nine-member commission, called the Nonpartisan Judicial Merit Commission, to select potential appointees. Members of the commission would have been appointed by the state legislature, governor, and supreme court chief justice, under this amendment. The amendment left the process of how to select commission members up to the legislature to establish in statute. Click here for more information.

2017

In March 2017, the North Carolina legislature overrode Gov. Roy Cooper's (D) veto and re-instituted partisan elections for superior and district court judges. Elections for superior court judges were nonpartisan from 1998 to 2016, and elections for district court judges were nonpartisan from 2002 to 2016. This change was effective with the 2018 district court elections.

In 2017, Democrats in the state went to court to try to preserve the state's judicial primaries. The primaries were eliminated through legislation passed by North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature over Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's veto. Democrats argued that the elimination of the primaries violated the constitutional right to association—that is, the right of party members to choose their own candidates. Before the legislation passed, filing deadlines for primaries were scheduled for February 2018.

On January 31, 2018, a judge reinstated the judicial primaries for the supreme court and court of appeals. However, on February 9, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit stayed the lower court's ruling, canceling the primaries.

2016

In December 2016, Governor Pat McCrory (R) signed a bill making election of supreme court and court of appeals judges partisan for the first time since 2004, starting with the 2018 election cycle.

2015

On June 11, 2015, Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a bill changing how supreme court justices are elected to additional terms. The bill eliminated the need for sitting judges to run in contested elections at the ends of their terms; instead, judges would run in yes-no retention elections wherein they must receive more than 50 percent "yes" votes. The bill passed the North Carolina State Senate with a 35-12 vote on June 1, and the North Carolina House of Representatives approved the bill in a 62-49 vote on June 4.

On March 4, 2016, a three-judge panel of Wake County Superior Court judges ruled this law unconstitutional. The state appealed the ruling to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Justice Edmunds was recused from hearing the case. On May 6, the court issued a split ruling, 3-3. Because the ruling was divided, the lower court's ruling, declaring retention elections unconstitutional, stood. But the ruling provides no precedent for future cases, meaning the same issue could theoretically recur.

In October 2015, Governor Pat McCrory (R) signed a bill creating "open judicial elections with party designations for the Court of Appeals." Judges on the court of appeals had run in nonpartisan elections since 2004 but had run in partisan elections before that. The new law did not return the court of appeals races to partisan elections, but stated that candidates must make their affiliation known. Under this law, judges did not run in partisan primaries but were required to indicate their party designations when filing for candidacy. A judge was permitted to run under unaffiliated status. The affiliated party or unaffiliated status appeared on the ballot. This law lasted until the passage in 2016 of a law returning appellate courts to partisan elections.

2013

In 2013, campaign finance laws were amended by the General Assembly of North Carolina in House Bill 589, effective in 2014. Some of these changes included:

• Public financing was no longer made available for judicial candidates. Candidates who qualified used to receive $250,000 to finance their campaigns. All eight candidates for statewide judicial offices qualified for public financing in 2012. Most of the funding came from voluntary fees.
• The amount an individual donor could contribute to a judicial candidate increased from $1,000 to $5,000.
• Limitations on the amount an individual could donate to independent organizations, which could use the money to promote or attack candidates, were eliminated.
• The requirement that candidates appear in ads to say they approved it or list their top five donors in a print ad was removed.

2012

On May 18, 2012, U.S. District Court Judge Louise Flanagan struck down parts of North Carolina's public financing program for outspent appellate court candidates. The program provided extra funds to help candidates who were outspent by privately funded opponents.

Two committees representing North Carolina Right to Life argued against the matching fund provisions, pointing to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2012 that struck down a similar program in Arizona. They said that it limited free political speech.

Judge Flanagan agreed with the committees, writing: "The court finds that the North Carolina matching funds statute is unduly burdensome and not sufficiently justified to survive First Amendment scrutiny."

The decision was based on the precedent set by a U.S. Supreme Court decision, where the justices determined that such rescue funds did not help level the playing field or reduce corruption, as supporters of the provisions had argued.

2011

In April 2011, Governor Bev Perdue issued Executive Order 86 to create a statewide panel that screens applicants for the state appellate courts and the superior courts. The North Carolina Judicial Nominating Commission was instructed to consider diversity, gender, ethnicity and geography of the applicants in addition to their legal qualifications. For each vacancy, the statewide panel was to select the names of three nominees to forward to the governor, who would appoint one.

North Carolina State Legislative Office Building

Legislative action

In June 2011, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill (67-51) that would have returned to the partisan election of judges. Proponents felt party labels provided voters with more insight into a judicial candidate. However, the bill was never enacted into law.

2002

In 2002, the Judicial Campaign Reform Act was passed by the General Assembly of North Carolina. With this, the legislature made the appellate courts (the supreme court and court of appeals) the last in the state to participate in nonpartisan judicial elections. Also, the act allowed for public financing of statewide judicial candidate elections. The public financing program was the first of its kind enacted for judicial races in the nation. Money to support it came from the choice of residents to check a box on their tax return forms, lawyer fees and private donations.

Selection of federal judges

United States district court judges, who are selected from each state, go through a different selection process from that of state judges.

The district courts are served by Article III federal judges, who are appointed for life during good behavior. They are usually first recommended by senators (or members of the House, occasionally). The President of the United States nominates judges, who must then be confirmed by the United States Senate in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution.

In other states

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http://ballotpedia.org/Judicial_selection_in_STATE

State profile

Demographic data for North Carolina
	North Carolina	U.S.
Total population:	10,035,186	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	48,618	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	69.5%	73.6%
Black/African American:	21.5%	12.6%
Asian:	2.5%	5.1%
Native American:	1.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.4%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	8.8%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	85.8%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	28.4%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$46,868	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	20.5%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in North Carolina. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in North Carolina

North Carolina voted Republican in four out of the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, six are located in North Carolina, accounting for 2.91 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. North Carolina had six Retained Pivot Counties, 3.31 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More North Carolina coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in North Carolina
• United States congressional delegations from North Carolina
• Public policy in North Carolina
• Influencers in North Carolina
• North Carolina fact checks
• More...

See also

North Carolina	Judicial Selection	More Courts
Courts in North Carolina North Carolina Court of Appeals North Carolina Supreme Court	Elections: 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020 • 2021 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in North Carolina	Federal courts State courts Local courts

• News: Bar Association proposes changes to judicial selection in North Carolina, May 3, 2011
• North Carolina judicial elections
• Nonpartisan election of judges

External links

• The North Carolina Court System
• American Judicature Society, "Judicial selection in North Carolina"
• Greensboro News & Record, "Judicial elections usually puzzle voters," October 1, 2008

Footnotes

North Carolina courts

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Federal courts:

Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of North Carolina, Middle District of North Carolina, Western District of North Carolina • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of North Carolina, Middle District of North Carolina, Western District of North Carolina

State courts:

Supreme Court of North Carolina • North Carolina Court of Appeals • North Carolina Superior Courts • North Carolina District Courts

State resources:

Courts in North Carolina • North Carolina judicial elections • Judicial selection in North Carolina