The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists of six associate justices and one chief justice, although the number of justices has varied. The primary function of the Supreme Court is to decide questions of law that have arisen in the lower courts and before state administrative agencies.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the only intermediate appellate court in the state of North Carolina. It is composed of fifteen members who sit in rotating panels of three. The Court of Appeals was created by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1967 after voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1965 which "authorized the creation of an intermediate court of appeals to relieve pressure on the North Carolina Supreme Court."
J. Douglas McCullough is an American lawyer and former judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. McCullough retired in 2017.
Paul Martin Newby is an American judge, who was first elected to a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2004. He was elected chief justice in 2020.
Several judges of the North Carolina Supreme Court and the North Carolina Court of Appeals, the state's two appellate courts, were elected on November 2, 2004. The 2004 United States presidential election, 2004 United States House election, 2004 United States Senate election, 2004 North Carolina Council of State election and 2004 North Carolina General Assembly election were held on the same day.
Donna S. Stroud is an American lawyer and jurist who was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 2006 election. She was reelected to the court unopposed in 2014 and reelected again in 2022.
One justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and six judges of the North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected to eight-year terms by North Carolina voters on November 4, 2008. This coincided with the presidential, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, gubernatorial, and Council of State elections.
Samuel James Ervin IV is a North Carolina lawyer and jurist who served on the North Carolina Supreme Court from 2015 to 2022. He previously served as a state Utilities Commissioner and as a judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. He is the grandson of U.S. Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr. and the son of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Judge Sam J. Ervin III.
One justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and five judges of the North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 2, 2010, on the same day as the U.S. Senate election, U.S. House elections, and other state-level elections. North Carolina judicial elections are non-partisan. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. All incumbent judges and justices who sought re-election won their respective races, except for Judge Cressie Thigpen of the Court of Appeals, who had been appointed shortly before the election and lost North Carolina's first statewide election to use Instant-runoff voting.
Cressie H. Thigpen Jr. is a North Carolina lawyer and jurist who served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
Robert Christopher "Chris" Dillon is a North Carolina attorney and judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Dillon won election to the appellate court in a statewide race on Nov. 6, 2012, when he defeated incumbent Cressie Thigpen. Dillon won re-election on Nov. 3, 2020 over challenger Gray Styers.
Four justices of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and four judges of the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 4, 2014, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years.
Philip Berger Jr. is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court since 2021.
One justice of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and five judges of the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 8, 2016, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years.
Robert C. Ervin is a North Carolina Superior Court judge who has presided over numerous high-profile cases. He is the grandson of U.S. Senator Sam J. Ervin, the son of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Sam J. Ervin III and the brother of state Supreme Court Justice Sam J. Ervin IV.
Anita Earls is an American civil rights attorney who has served as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court since 2019. She previously served as the executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, as well as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice during the Clinton administration. On November 6, 2018, Earls defeated Republican incumbent Justice Barbara Jackson in a three-candidate election to win a seat on the state's highest court.
Three justices of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and five judges of the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 3, 2020, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. These elections were conducted on a partisan basis.
Two justices of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and four judges of the fifteen-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 8, 2022, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. These elections were conducted on a partisan basis.
Curtis Hudson "Trey" Allen III is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. He was elected in November 2022.
At least one justice of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and at least three judges of the fifteen-member North Carolina Court of Appeals are scheduled to be elected by North Carolina voters on November 5, 2024, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. These elections are conducted on a partisan basis.
