August 16, 2024
Several-high profile cases in North Carolina came to a close in the first half of the year, from a second bribery conviction against an insurance magnate beset by legal woes, to the anticlimactic withdrawal of a state Supreme Court justice's much-watched free speech suit. Here, Law360 looks at those and other notable rulings so far in North Carolina.
January 17, 2024
North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls has dropped her explosive First Amendment lawsuit over a judicial watchdog's investigation of her comments about the makeup of the state bench, as the watchdog has abandoned the probe.
January 01, 2024
Constitutional challenges reign supreme in North Carolina in 2024 as a liberal state Supreme Court justice confronts a judicial watchdog's investigation into comments she made about diversity on the bench and critics look to dismantle part of the state's 12-week abortion law.
December 08, 2023
The Fourth Circuit refused on Friday to shut down an investigation by a North Carolina judicial watchdog into comments made by state Justice Anita Earls as part of her lawsuit alleging her First Amendment rights are being violated by the probe.
December 01, 2023
North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls has lost her emergency bid to stall a judicial watchdog's investigation over comments she made about diversity on the bench, with a federal judge ruling she hasn't shown a strong chance of prevailing on her First Amendment claims.
November 27, 2023
A North Carolina Supreme Court justice, who said her high court colleagues' conduct on the bench is sometimes influenced by gender and race biases in a news interview, filed an emergency motion on Monday to stop a formal investigation into her statements, which she said threatens her seat on the court and violates her First Amendment rights.
November 21, 2023
A federal judge said late Tuesday that he won't yet intervene in a North Carolina judicial watchdog's investigation of state Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, finding the matter is better left to first play out administratively before the federal court gets involved.
November 02, 2023
A federal judge seemed reluctant Thursday to shut down an administrative probe into a left-leaning North Carolina Supreme Court justice's public statements about diversity and her conservative colleagues, appearing swayed by arguments that it's too early to find that the jurist's free speech has been chilled.
October 23, 2023
Legal ethics scholars are backing North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls in a free speech showdown with the state's Judicial Standards Commission, saying the watchdog's investigation of her comments on diversity in the judiciary isn't rooted in any relevant rules.
September 18, 2023
A North Carolina federal judge scolded state Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls and the state Judicial Standards Commission for "inflammatory" comments they have made as part of Justice Earls' lawsuit alleging the commission is stifling her right to free speech.