This week, a series of articles from INDY Week outline the significance of our judicial elections from multiple perspectives and paint a clear picture of the regressive politics North Carolina Republicans will impose on the public if they take control of our courts this November – restricting the reproductive freedoms, voting rights, and forfeiting our judiciary’s role as a crucial backstop against the extreme agenda of Republicans in the legislature.

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INDY Week: High Court, High Stakes: Inside the Battle for Control of the NC Supreme Court

• In less than a week, North Carolina voters will decide the future of abortion rights, election maps, and even education spending. Will these issues be decided in the race for U.S. Congress? No. In votes for state senators? No.
• In fact, many major policy decisions in the next few years will be made by candidates historically overlooked by voters: the justices of the NC Supreme Court.
• “We need a court system that is going to rule by the [state] constitution and provide fair decisions based on the law … rather than based on their own political affiliation,” says Dr. Bobbie Richardson, chair of the state Democratic Party.
• “Our supreme court has been the backstop for political gerrymandering and barriers Republicans have tried to put in the way of African Americans having access to the polls,” she adds. “[If we lose the majority], we will lose the power of voting rights and perhaps even other rights. We will not have any backstop for women’s right to choose their own medical care.”
• With a divided government, namely the Republican-controlled General Assembly versus Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, disputes often come before the state supreme court to mediate.
• Over the next few years, the NC Supreme Court could certainly weigh in on abortion rights. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, it left it up to states to make decisions on when and how abortions can take place.
• Another big issue is voting rights, which encompasses issues like voter ID and gerrymandering.
• “[Those issues] are likely to come up again. People should be aware of that when they’re voting. Look at the judges and see who you feel is going to uphold voting rights and civil rights.”

INDY Week: Why You Should Care About the Appellate Court Races

• The eight candidates vying for state appellate seats haven’t aired many ads, nor have they received much attention from the press; as in most years, media coverage surrounding the elections has amounted to little beyond candidate questionnaires, with contenders offering nearly identical responses about their judicial philosophies and camouflaging any significant differences in legalese.
• But while the NC Supreme Court races are certainly momentous (see our story on page 6 for more on that), the state’s oft-overlooked appellate elections also carry weight.
• The NC Court of Appeals, which determines whether trial courts have correctly applied the law, is perhaps best known for pushing cases down the line.
• But most of the time, the appellate court, which hears around 60 cases every two weeks, is actually the end of the line.
• In the past year, appellate judges have had the final say on cases ranging from education to rezoning and environmental justice, issuing decisions that have allowed students to sue the UNC system over fees they paid for on-campus services that were closed during the pandemic, prevented the city of Charlotte from using a rezoning dispute as a precedent in future court proceedings, and granted state legislators the authority to make it nearly impossible for people to sue hog farms for nuisance.
• Which is to say: the makeup of the appellate court matters.

INDY Week: Op-Ed: North Carolina’s Judicial Elections Matter as Much as the Fight for the Statehouse

• If you want good policies that allow all North Carolinians to thrive, you first need fair elections. To get there, we need good courts.
• This year our courts have shown just what can be done to protect our democracy. For the first time ever in North Carolina, partisan gerrymandering was declared to be illegal. Our state supreme court threw out maps that Republicans had drawn to give themselves an unfair electoral advantage and demanded that more fair maps replace them.
• In short, courts are the backstop for our democracy. As The American Independent put it, “For the past several years, the state’s highest court has prevented some Republican lawmakers’ ploys from taking permanent partisan control of the state Legislature, including ongoing attempts to gerrymander and disenfranchise many of the state’s Black voters.”
• For years, special interests have spent millions to elect a GOP-controlled legislature that favors big business and corporate polluters over the needs of hard-working North Carolinians.
• They are not stopping there. This year they are taking aim at our democracy itself by funding judicial candidates who have vowed to slash away at protections for fair elections before they have even ascended to the bench.
• There are two seats up for election to the supreme court and four to the court of appeals. These are vital positions. Those who win them will have eight-year terms and will see cases that will shape everything from how our elections are run to how our laws are interpreted. I encourage everyone to learn their platforms and get involved in their campaigns.
• Let’s ensure the will of the people of North Carolina can be done.

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