In the past several years, North Carolina Republicans have attempted power grab after power grab over the state’s government, elections board, and judicial systems. In their latest attempt, state Republicans passed a controversial bill that gives the conservative-leaning state Supreme Court the power to remove judges they don’t like.
House Bill 377 gives the state Supreme Court the power to censure, publicly reprimand, suspend, or remove judges at its discretion, even if the Judicial Standards Commission, which considers complaints against judges, hasn’t recommended it.
The bill would allow the chief justice of the state Supreme Court to suspend trial court judges without pay if they are under investigation. Currently, Republican Paul Newby, who has backed measures by Republican lawmakers to strip power away from North Carolina’s governor and obstruct the will of voters, is the court’s chief justice.
If House Bill 377 becomes law, the same Republicans who have targeted Democratic justices in the past will control the committee that can decide to remove them from the court, disregarding the votes of millions of North Carolinians who elected them to those positions.
“This bill would have a chilling effect on judicial independence by giving the Chief Justice authority to suspend trial judges without pay, a power no other Chief Justice in the country has. North Carolina voters elect the vast majority of our judges in our state, and removing judges from their posts should first and foremost be determined by the people,” wrote Governor Josh Stein in a statement following his veto of House Bill 377.
“Just as the respective leadership in each legislative chamber does not have the power to suspend duly elected legislators, and just as the Governor does not have the power to suspend an elected member of the Council of State, the Chief Justice should not have the power to suspend a trial judge elected by the people.”
State Republicans have already attempted to remove justices. One of them is Justice Anita Earls.
According to Democracy Docket, Republican Chief Justice Paul Newby pushed for an investigation into Democratic Justice Anita Earls for bogus ethics charges in 2023. Earls, a former civil rights lawyer, faced an ethics probe for discussing bias and a lack of diversity within the state Supreme Court.
In 2024, the Judicial Standards Commission rightfully dismissed and closed its investigation, following Justice Earls’ filing a federal lawsuit against the commission for violating her free speech rights. Despite the commission dropping its investigation, how Justice Earls was targeted underscores the growing politicization of the courts then and now.
“We are on a really dangerous path in the way that we have vested power in fewer and fewer people, and that we’re doing that at a time when that power is being abused in so many ways,” stated State Senator Lisa Grafstein earlier this year.
In a recent editorial, State Senator Woodson Bradley pointed out Newby’s track record, writing, “National news outlets have chronicled his abuse of power since becoming chief justice in 2013, including purging the judiciary of staff who won’t toe the party line and punishing those who speak out against him. Observers have called Newby “possibly the most ethically compromised chief justice in the country,” and it’s not hard to see why.”
House Bill 377 is the latest in a long line of GOP efforts to politicize state courts and give Newby a new way to pack the courts with hard-right conservatives. Gov. Stein’s veto of the measure was essential for protecting our justice system; however, many concerns remain surrounding state Republicans’ power grab attempt.
“For thirteen years, the General Assembly has repeatedly played politics with the judiciary, including taking all four of the nonpartisan State Bar’s appointments to the Judicial Standards Commission for itself,” wrote Gov. Stein. “It needs to stop politicizing our courts. An independent judiciary is critical to protecting the rule of law and the rights of all North Carolinians.”
