ASSOCIATE JUSTICE ANITA EARLS
JUSTICE EARLS DROPS
LAWSUIT, BUT CAN SHE
STILL SPEAK OUT?
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Associate Justice Anita Earls has indeed dropped her federal lawsuit against the NC Judicial Standards Commission (NCJSC), after first claiming that its investigations into her press interviews and speeches “chilled” her free speech rights to address racial inequities she found in the state judiciary.
“However, I see no need to continue the litigation since the Commission has dismissed the complaint against me and at this time I no longer face being disciplined by the Court. I am enormously grateful to all the individuals and organizations, in North Carolina and nationally, who supported me while this case was pending,” Earls said in a statement.
In return, the NCJSC dropped its investigation into Earls after first alleging that her criticisms of her conservative colleagues on the state Supreme Court hurt the image of the judiciary.
But even though both sides have dropped their swords, the issue remains the same - Justice Earls is the only African-American woman on the state Supreme Court, and one of only two Democratic females. Observers say that makes her a political target on a judicial body that is led by Republicans, some of whom have expressed irritation with Earls being there.
As reported previously, Justice Earls has served on the state Supreme Court since she was elected to it in 2018 by 1.8 million votes statewide. When she took her seat, Republican colleague/now Chief Justice Paul Newby greeted her with a public statement that her election kept him up at night.
Also reported last year, after Earls wrote in a dissenting opinion that a majority decision by the five Republicans on the High Court, “hurt the integrity of our justice system and our citizens’ faith in it,” Republican Justice Richard Dietz immediately personally attacked Earls, writing “Once again, this Court enters a routine order that draws an exaggerated, hyperbolic dissent from one of my colleagues.”
“My colleague accuses the majority of seeking ‘power’ over reason, of engaging in a ‘radically destabilizing shift,’ of attempting to ‘brazenly warp the law,’ and on and on…Like so many of my colleague’s dissents, this one has portions that read more like pulp fiction than a legal opinion.”
Justice Dietz then added, “One can reasonably disagree with our approach, but to claim that our decision comes ‘at the cost of the integrity of our justice system and our citizens’ faith in it’ is a bit unhinged.”
As long as Justice Earls remains on the High Court, can she expect this same kind of treatment from her Republican colleagues? And if that is the case, can she speak out about it, as she did last year before someone filed a complaint against her with the NCJSC?
One of the reasons Earls’ Republican colleagues disliked her from the start
was Earls’ outstanding record as a progressive civil rights attorney, successfully challenging unconstitutional voter ID laws and redistricting voting maps from the GOP-led legislature. Once she got on the court, she began speaking out about the lack of diversity among court clerks who serve the justices, and the lack of both racial and gender diversity of the attorneys who argue before the court.
She also revealed how her Republican colleagues would disrespect female attorneys who come before the court, and even cut her off during remarks.
Earls publicly criticized Chief Justice Newby for ending implicit bias training at the court, telling her that it was not needed, and she said in a published interview that her Republican colleagues on the High Court were “the conservative bloc” that places its ideology ahead of the “institution.”
Can she still do that if she sees the need?
“I continue to believe that the First Amendment protects my ability to speak about matters of racial equity in the legal system,” Earls said in a statement. The dismissal of her federal lawsuit was done “without prejudice,” meaning that if Justice Earls decides to refile it, she can at a later date.
If the Judicial Standards Commission had completed its investigation of Justice Earls, and found her at fault, her colleagues on the state Supreme Court would have been left with the task of deciding her punishment, which could have included her removal from the bench.
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REPUBLICANS TAKE AIM
AT ROBINSON FOR PAST
REMARKS ABOUT JEWS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
With just over six weeks to go before the 2024 March 5th gubernatorial primaries (three weeks before Feb. 15th early voting), leading Republican candidate Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson finds himself the target of intensified attacks from other GOP candidates, hoping to knock him off his leader’s ledge in the race to win the nomination.
Robinson, considered an outspoken MAGA culture warrior, is facing two other major opponents for the N.C. Republican Party gubernatorial nomination - state Treasurer Dale Folwell and wealthy conservative attorney Bill Graham of Salisbury.
According to the latest polls, neither Folwell nor Graham are garnering anywhere near Robinson’s commanding double-digit lead. Neither has matched Robinson in terms of campaign rhetoric or controversy.
According to Public Policy Polling (PPP) as of earlier this month, Robinson, with 55%, had a commanding 40-point lead over his closest competitor Bill Graham (15%) with registered Republican primary voters.
However that same poll showed 24% of Republican primary voters undecided.
But while Folwell (7%) has issued statements questioning the lieutenant governor’s fitness for office because of his relative lack of political experience and divisive remarks about people he doesn’t like (“ he’s attacking people instead of attacking the important problems that our citizens are facing”) Graham, a conservative former prosecutor who was recently endorsed by Republican U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, has gone a step further.
Last week, Graham’s campaign began running a tough attack ad against Robinson about negative remarks he’s made about Jewish people in the past.
In the ad, Graham’s campaign calls Robinson an “antisemite,” and further charges that the lt. governor “is aligning himself with Hamas,” the terrorist group responsible for the deadly Oct. 7th attack in Israel last year.
Despite his past negative remarks about Jews, Robinson recently tried to portray himself as a friend of Israel, even taking a trip there last fall.
“Bill Graham is regurgitating the same dishonest lies the Democrats use because the Republican primary is over and he can’t handle it," Robinson campaign spokesman Bill Lonergan, told Raleigh TV station CBS17. "Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson stands with Israel and the Jewish people – and he’s never questioned the Holocaust.”
That same PPP poll asked "Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Mark Robinson?" Favorable of Robinson was 53%; unfavorable 11%.
Graham is seeking to drive Robinson’s negative numbers up, and hopefully, do so in a manner to attract many of the undecided Republicans who have not made a decision as to which Republican they will support yet.
According to the political newsletter "Politics NC," Graham has told reporters, “If this guy is nominated by the Republican Party I will guarantee a loss and (Democrat) Josh Stein will be the governor for the next four years.”
PPP also shows Republican former President Donald Trump with a 66% lead in North Carolina over Republican primary rivals Nikki Haley (12%) and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (9%). DeSantis suspended his campaign for president Sunday right before the New Hampshire primary.
There is little question that Robinson is benefiting from his close association with Trump. PPP showed that 43% of those polled are "more likely" to vote for a candidate that he endorsed. The MAGA former president not only has endorsed the black Republican’s campaign for governor, but recently said that Robinson speaks even better that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..
And what would happen if Mark Robinson were to face Democratic frontrunner Josh Stein, the current NC State attorney general in November? According to the most recent East Carolina University Research Center polling from November, Robinson would win 44% to 40%, with 16% undecided.
Bill Graham, with his television campaign blitz against Robinson, is hoping to topple Robinson’s substantial lead now, and fast, so that he can face the Democratic gubernatorial winner in November. However the same ECU poll shows that when matched up with Stein, if he's that Democrat, Graham loses 42% to 39%.
In unrelated 2024 electoral news, a federal judge ruled earlier this week that several changes to 2024 election laws made by the Republican-led NC General Assembly are likely unconstitutional and will be blocked from going into effect.
Those changes, now void, would affect same day registration with early voting.
Republican legislative leaders plan to appeal the ruling.
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