North Carolina Court of Appeals | |
---|---|
Established | 1967 |
Location | Raleigh, North Carolina |
Composition method | Partisan election |
Authorized by | Constitution of North Carolina |
Appeals to | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Judge term length | 8 years (mandatory retirement at the age of 72) |
Number of positions | 15 |
Chief Judge | |
Currently | Chris Dillon |
The North Carolina Court of Appeals (in case citation, N.C. Ct. App.) 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. [1] 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." [2]
Judges serve eight-year terms and are elected in statewide elections. The General Assembly made Court of Appeals elections non-partisan starting with the 2004 elections, but later made them partisan again after the 2016 elections. [3]
Seniority | Name | Born | Joined | Term ends [lower-alpha 1] | Mandatory retirement [lower-alpha 2] | Law school | Party affiliation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Chris Dillon , Chief Judge | 1965 (age 58–59) | January 1, 2013 | 2028 | April 20, 2037 | North Carolina | Republican |
2 | Donna Stroud | June 28, 1964 | 2007 | 2030 | June 28, 2036 | Campbell | Republican |
3 | John M. Tyson | July 14, 1953 | 2001–09, 2015 | 2030 | July 14, 2025 | Campbell | Republican |
4 | Valerie Zachary | 1962 (age 61–62) | 2015 | 2024 | 2034 | Harvard | Republican |
5 | Hunter Murphy | 1981 (age 42–43) | January 1, 2017 | 2024 | Jan 24, 2053 | University of the Pacific | Republican |
6 | John S. Arrowood | November 4, 1956 | 2007–08, 2017 | 2026 | 2028 | North Carolina | Democratic |
7 | Allegra Collins | January 13, 1972 | January 1, 2019 | 2026 | Jan. 30, 2044 | Campbell | Democratic |
8 | Toby Hampson | December 20, 1975 | January 1, 2019 | 2026 | Dec. 20, 2047 | Campbell | Democratic |
9 | Jeff Carpenter | January 1, 2021 | 2028 | Campbell | Republican | ||
10 | April C. Wood | January 1, 2021 | 2028 | Regent | Republican | ||
11 | Fred Gore | January 1, 2021 | 2028 | Appalachian | Republican | ||
12 | Jefferson Griffin | October 7, 1980 | January 1, 2021 | 2028 | 2052 | NC Central | Republican |
13 | Julee Tate Flood | January 1, 2023 | 2030 | New Hampshire | Republican | ||
14 | Michael J. Stading | January 1, 2023 | 2030 | Campbell | Republican | ||
15 | Carolyn Thompson | September 11, 2023 | 2024 | NC Central | Democratic |
Notes:
A partial list of former judges is listed below: [4]
Sarah Parker is an American judge who served as the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from February 2006 until August 2014.
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.
Linda M. McGee is an American judge, who retired as the Chief Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals at the end of 2020. McGee retired as the "longest serving Court of Appeals judge in state history."
Robert Carl "Bob" Hunter is an American jurist, who served as a Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals from 1998 through 2014.
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.
Barbara Jackson is an American attorney and jurist who was elected in 2010 to an eight-year term on the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court and judges of the North Carolina Court of Appeals are elected to eight-year terms in statewide judicial elections. In 2006, all these races were non-partisan. The 2006 congressional elections and the 2006 North Carolina legislative elections were held on the same day, November 7, 2006.
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.
The North Carolina Law Review is a law journal of the University of North Carolina School of Law. It publishes six issues each year as well as its online supplement, the North Carolina Law Review Forum.
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.
During President Bill Clinton's first and second terms of office, he nominated 24 people for 20 federal appellate judgeships but the nominees were not processed by the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. Three of the nominees who were not processed were nominated after July 1, 2000, the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. Democrats claim that Senate Republicans of the 106th Congress purposely tried to keep open particular judgeships as a political maneuver to allow a future Republican president to fill them. Of the 20 seats in question, four were eventually filled with different Clinton nominees, fourteen were later filled with Republican nominees by President George W. Bush and two continued to stay open during Bush's presidency. Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the United States Senate during the 110th Congress, and Senator Patrick Leahy, the Democratic leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee under Reid, repeatedly mentioned the controversy over President Clinton's court of appeals nominees during the controversy involving the confirmation of Republican court of appeals nominees during the last two years of Bush's second term. Republicans claimed that Democrats were refusing to confirm certain longstanding Bush nominees in order to allow a future Democratic president in 2009 to fill those judgeships.
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.
Robert Neal "Bob" Hunter, Jr. is a North Carolina lawyer and retired jurist formerly serving on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and on the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Several justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court and judges of the North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected to eight-year terms by North Carolina voters on November 5, 2002. Party primary elections were held on Sept. 10. This was the last year in which statewide judicial elections were partisan.
One justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and three judges of the North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the elections for Governor and other offices. North Carolina judicial elections are non-partisan. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. In three of the four races, incumbents were re-elected to their seats, but incumbent Court of Appeals Judge Cressie Thigpen was defeated by Chris Dillon.
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.
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.
One justice of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and three judges of the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 6, 2018, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. These elections were partisan for the first time since the elections of 2002. A law passed by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2017 cancelled primary elections for judicial elections in 2018 only, meaning that an unlimited number of candidates from any party could run in the general election.
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.