cheri beasley

June 30, 2020 - Black Lives Matter protesters recently targeted a statue of former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin, an enslaver and rapist notorious for sanctioning physical violence against enslaved people. Days later, a commission discussed removing an enormous portrait of Ruffin that looms over the state Supreme Court. 

May 4, 2020 - The decision is the first time the court has ruled against prosecutors on a claim of discrimination against black jurors. The court's only Republican justice dissented.

December 5, 2019 - As the N.C. Supreme Court decides whether to move a prominent portrait of a slave-owning justice, lower courts are hearing lawsuits involving Confederate monuments. One judge recently signed a controversial settlement order in which UNC agreed to give a pro-Confederate group $2.5 million to care for a statue toppled by anti-racist protesters.

June 6, 2019 - North Carolina's courts have been in the crosshairs of the Republican-controlled legislature for years, with bills introduced to gerrymander judges, pack the bench, and manipulate judicial elections. But last week, lawmakers quickly restored a controversial cut to the chief justice's budget, suggesting the era of GOP judicial power grabs may be over.

February 21, 2019 - Cheri Beasley will soon be sworn in as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, becoming the first black woman to lead the court. She brings much-needed diversity to the South's appellate courts, which are overwhelmingly white and male.

October 30, 2015 - With the rising flood of campaign cash in state supreme court elections, incumbent judges of color are having a harder time winning re-election than white incumbents, a new study finds. How bad is the problem, and what's the solution?

October 22, 2015 - Elected officials and scholars gathered in North Carolina recently to discuss how to transform the way the public thinks about money in politics.