north carolina supreme court
November 6, 2020 -
Conservatives won supreme court races across the South this week. The results could shift Kentucky's high court to the right. The race for North Carolina chief justice is too close to call as mail-in ballots are still being tallied.
August 26, 2020 -
Southern states are holding judicial elections this year that will shape the outcome of critical cases involving voting rights and criminal justice. The elections could also bring unprecedented diversity to courts in some states.
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.
February 13, 2020 -
Supreme courts in every other Southern state have addressed the problem of racist jury selection. But in the decades since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled such discrimination unconstitutional, North Carolina courts have turned away every claim.
January 16, 2020 -
Since the U.S Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United 10 years ago, corporate campaign cash has poured into supreme court races across the South. With seats up for grabs this year in Arkansas, North Carolina, and West Virginia, that trend is likely to continue.
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.
July 18, 2019 -
A judge recently ruled that the North Carolina legislature lost its power to amend the state constitution after federal courts ruled that it was unconstitutionally gerrymandered by race. Now new evidence suggests that lawmakers misled judges to buy time to pass the amendments.
