NC Supreme Court

Suzanne Reynolds, a law Professor at Wake Forest University, is considered to be North Carolina's premier expert on family law. That's the perspective and experience she plans to bring to the North Carolina Supreme Court.

This was one of the best years for judicial elections for progressives in a long time. Despite the claim of being nonpartisan, Republicans have dominated recent statewide judicial elections. This year Sarah Parker kept her spot as Chief Justice, Patricia Timmons-Goodson kept the seat she was appointed to on the Supreme Court, and Robin Hudson got elevated from the Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court. A good year for Democrats and justice for sure, but it begs the question of whether voting on judges is the best way to go about selecting our justice system.

There are plenty of things not to like about the reactionary named Rusty Duke who is running for Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, not the least of which is the fact that he's a homophobic theocrat.

But did you know he's also a likely plagiarist?

Here's what Duke says about his judicial philosophy on his own campaign website.

"Through judicial activism the most important moral, political, and cultural decisions affecting our lives are steadily being removed by the courts from the democratic process."

And here's what one of America's most notorious conservative judges wrote:

Jerry Conner's attorneys did not attend the clemency hearing today. Read the explanation just posted over at jerryconner.blogspot.com

This e-mail from The Political Junkies speaks for itself:

In the four years that The Political Junkies has published, this is the first time that we have felt is necessary to write North Carolina readers individually, But, on Tuesday night NC Democrats could be asking, “What happened?”

One critical seat on the North Carolina State Supreme Court is at stake Tuesday. Two Democrats, in a four candidate “non-partisan” field, are vying to make the November “non-partisan” general election.

TPJ has endorsed JUDGE ROBIN HUDSON.

The e-mail goes on to say what I've been asserting all along:

The other Democrat is Bill Gore, but Bill Gore is not a Democrat as most in our Party view a Democrat. He is openly running on a right wing agenda that competes with any radical Republican. Gore has unabashedly demonstrated that he is a strict constructionist, who does not believe in the separation of church and state, and who would vote against Roe v. Wade, which recognizes a woman’s reproductive rights.

On May 2nd, judges will be on the primary ballot with the top two in each race heading on to the general election. Since this has been an exam week for me, I have not been able to do a thorough analysis on each candidate (and with a final tomorrow at 9AM will not be able to do one now), but luckily the NCDP has put together a list of judicial candidates that have been long time Democrats here. Since judge's party affiliation will not be listed on the ballot and there is only one race that has more than one Democrat and in each the Democrat is the best candidate (in my humble opinion), this is a pretty good shorthand to remember when going to the polls.

North Carolina Supreme Court

Supreme Court Chief Justice (Parker Seat): Chief Justice Sarah Parker

As we've seen the impact that the judiciary has on the way we live our lives over the past few years in our increasingly litigious society, we should be reminded how important it is to elect good judges, and insofar as the race for the Justice Wainwright's seat on the NC supreme court the best judge that we could elect would be Robin Hudson.

While I am by no means an expert on the judicial race, nor do I have a vast amount of knowledge on the entire legal careers of the candidates I do personally know Judge Robin Hudson, and I know that she is one of the most strong, intelligent, fair, and hard-working women I have ever met. Beyond the endorsements she has recieved (listed below) and what you can read about her in the media, I can assure you that she is an incredibly impressive woman and a wonderful, thoughtful person who is running for Justice because she wants to serve the state. Judge Hudson is the best candidate in this race.

[Lance: I front-paged this because it raises questions that need answering—is Gore advertising deceptively? Or what? Max, can you chime in here?]

I just got this e-mail from an entity called "Rachel for Supreme Court Committee" But, guess what?

When I clicked on it these were the first words I read:"VOTE BILL GORE on MAY 2" So I looked up Bill Gore.

You can go here to read his answers to a questionnaire by the Family Policy Council. Go here to read how he compares to the Republicans he's running against.

If you don't wish to follow the links, let me tell you that the only way he differs from the two Republicans in the race is that his favorite Supreme Court Justice is Roberts instead of Scalia.

With so much emphasis on local and Congressional races, it's easy to lose sight of the critically important judiciary. Many people I know don't really know how to evaluate the candidates, and sometimes make their choices based on the ubiquity of yard signs. Here's a better option: Take the endorsements of the Independent to heart. Being a local boy with a contrarian streak, I don't always agree with the Independent about endorsements, but I think they nail these races. And I hope they don't mind if I post some excerpts.

State Supreme Court: Five candidates are vying for an open seat on the state's highest court, and we support sitting N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Robin Hudson of Raleigh. N.C.

The NC Supreme Court ruled today that a Greensboro man's chemotherapy wasn't covered by medicaid because he was an illegal immigrant and because his medical condition wasn't an emergency. Here's a fun assignment for this weekend: See if you can figure out whether the Supreme Court made the right decision.

Below the fold you'll find the statute that they were interpreting, followed by the court's full (and not ver long at all) opinion. Post your answers in the comments. For extra credit, explain whether the "right" result is morally right or not.