Anita Earls
2019 - Present
2026
6
Anita Earls (Democratic Party) is a judge of the North Carolina Supreme Court. She assumed office on January 1, 2019. Her current term ends on December 31, 2026.
Earls (Democratic Party) is running for re-election for judge of the North Carolina Supreme Court. She declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Earls first became a member of the North Carolina Supreme Court through a partisan election. She was first elected to the court in 2018 to the seat vacated by Barbara Jackson. To read more about judicial selection in North Carolina, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[1] Earls received a confidence score of Strong Democrat.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Prior to being elected to the North Carolina Supreme Court, Earls was the founder and executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. She also served as the director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law's Voting Rights Project and as a deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights under President Bill Clinton (D).[3]
Earls earned a bachelor's degree in political economy and philosophy from Williams College in 1981 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1988.[3]
Elections
2026
See also: North Carolina Supreme Court elections, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for North Carolina Supreme Court
Incumbent Anita Earls and Sarah Stevens are running in the general election for North Carolina Supreme Court on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Anita Earls (D) | |
 | Sarah Stevens (R) | |
| ||||
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Endorsements
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2018
General election
General election for North Carolina Supreme Court
Anita Earls defeated incumbent Barbara Jackson and Chris Anglin in the general election for North Carolina Supreme Court on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Anita Earls (D) | 49.6 | 1,812,751 |
 | Barbara Jackson (R) | 34.1 | 1,246,263 | |
 | Chris Anglin (R) | 16.4 | 598,753 | |
| Total votes: 3,657,767 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
| North Carolina Supreme Court election | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Poll sponsor | Anglin (R) | Earls (D) | Jackson (R) | Undecided/other | Margin of Error | Sample Size | ||||||||||||
| SurveyUSA October 26-29 | Spectrum News | 19% | 44% | 22% | 15% | +/-6.0 | 659 | ||||||||||||
| SurveyUSA October 2-8 | Spectrum News | 22% | 43% | 15% | 21% | +/-5.0 | 561 | ||||||||||||
| Note: A "0%" finding means the question was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org | |||||||||||||||||||
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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2018
Campaign website
Earl's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Anita Earls has worked passionately for 30 years protecting civil rights, fighting for families, and advocating for fair political processes. Earls founded the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, a North Carolina based civil rights nonprofit that partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights. Most recently, Earls is known for her leadership in litigating successful challenges to North Carolina’s “monster voter suppression law" and unfair redistricting plans. |
” |
| —Anita Earl’s campaign website (2018)[5] | ||
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Anita Earls completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Earls' responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
My top three priorities are ensuring a fair and impartial judiciary, increasing access to justice and eliminating unjust racial disparities in the criminal justice system. North Carolinians deserve an independent court where the rules are the same for every North Carolinian, not just political insiders or those with great wealth and power. We are at a critical moment where our basic civil rights and values are being threatened. Politicians and powerful corporate special interests are trying to influence and politicize our courts to stay in power. I am running for one simple reason---so that our judicial system lives up to the basic promise of equal justice under the law and to protect the rights of every North Carolinian. I served on the North Carolina Equal Access to Justice Commission because I believe that the biggest change North Carolina needs to make to its judicial system is to improve access to civil justice for all citizens. Currently many people cannot afford legal representation to meet basic legal needs, which impacts their access to housing, employment, education, and family security. With regard to our criminal justice system, eliminating racial disparities, promoting demonstrated programs that divert youth and young adults from the criminal justice system, and restoring adequate funding to the indigent defense services are just a few of the changes that North Carolina needs to make. It is axiomatic that racial bias should have no role in the administration of justice. As a Supreme Court Justice, it would be my responsibility to apply the legal precedents, including constitutional standards that prohibit racial bias, to the facts of any case that comes before the Court. Outside the courtroom, Judges have a responsibility to “uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary.” Appropriate participation in professional activities which further that responsibility can also address issues of racial bias in the administration of justice.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
As a judge, my role would not be to implement public policy. I can identify the areas of law I have been involved in during my thirty-year career. From 1988 to 1998 I was an attorney in private practice in Charlotte, North Carolina with the Ferguson, Stein law firm, where I represented individuals and communities throughout the state in voting rights, police misconduct, employment discrimination, housing discrimination, school desegregation, personal injury, family law, consumer law, first amendment, and disability rights cases. From 1998 to 2000, I was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice with responsibility for the Voting Rights, Disability Rights, Educational Opportunities and Federal Coordination and Compliance Sections. Technically I represented the United States of America. The injured parties involved in these matters were people of color, people with disabilities, students, women, LGBTQ individuals and communities of color. At the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law from 2000 to 2003, I was Director of the Voting Rights Project, representing primarily African-American voters and communities across the country in voting rights cases. I returned to North Carolina in 2003 to serve as Director of Advocacy at the UNC Center for Civil Rights, where I represented predominantly African-American communities in voting rights and environmental justice matters. In 2007 I founded the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, whose mission is to partner with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the south to defend and advance their political, social and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing and communications. While Executive Director, I participated in a number of lawsuits in voting rights and other cases raising issues of racial discrimination.
How would you describe your legal philosophy?
I define "judicial philosophy" as one's understanding of the role of courts in society, and the proper methods appellate courts should follow to interpret and apply constitutional, statutory and common laws. I believe in the importance of a fair and impartial judiciary which guarantees equal justice under law. Our courts are one of three branches of government, whose function is to interpret and apply the law to the facts of cases and controversies that come before it, brought by impacted parties who have proper standing to raise those claims. The canons of constitutional and statutory interpretation are well-established in our case law. For example, the North Carolina Supreme Court recently held that in determining whether the constitution has been violated "we look to the text of the constitution, the historical context in which the people of North Carolina adopted the applicable constitutional provision, and our precedents." State ex rel. McCrory v. Berger, 368 N.C. 368, 639, 781 S.E.2d 248, 252 (2016). Thus, many issues of constitutional and statutory interpretation have already been established by prior cases. In my view, in interpreting state or federal constitutional law, statutory law, or the common law, it is the responsibility of the judge to apply the law equally and fairly to everyone. In order to do so, a judge must look to the text, structure and history of the constitutional or statutory provision at issue, as well as all applicable precedent, not to their own personal values, political beliefs, or policy views.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
Judicial nominations and appointments
Possible Joe Biden nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court
On January 27, 2022, United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer officially announced he would retire at the start of the court's summer recess, which typically took place in late June or early July.[6][7] NBC News had previously reported the retirement on January 26.[8] On February 15, Biden announced he would nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson.[9]
President Joe Biden (D) did not announce a list of nominees he was considering. During the retirement announcement, Biden said that: "The person I will nominate will be someone of extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court."[10]
Earls was mentioned by two or more media outlets as a possible nominee to fill Breyer's seat on the court.[11][12] Click here to read more about the vacancy and nomination process.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[13]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[14]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Anita
Earls
North Carolina
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Democrat as of 2020
- Donated over $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Held political office as a Democrat
Partisan Profile
Details:
Earls was a registered Democrat as of 2020. She donated $2,435 to Democratic candidates. She was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the civil rights section of the U.S. Dept. of Justice under President Bill Clinton (D). She received $231,965 in campaign contributions from the North Carolina Democratic Party.
State supreme court judicial selection in North Carolina
- See also: Judicial selection in North Carolina
The seven justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court are chosen through partisan elections. Justices are elected to eight-year terms and must face re-election if they wish to serve again.[15]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a person must be licensed to practice law in North Carolina. There is a mandatory retirement age of 72 years.[16]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is elected by voters to serve in that capacity for an eight-year term.[17]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a successor to serve until the next general election which is held more than 60 days after the vacancy occurs. The governor must select an appointee from a list of three recommendations provided by the executive committee of the political party with which the vacating justice was affiliated.[18] An election is then held for a full eight-year term.[19][15]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
|
Candidate North Carolina Supreme Court |
Officeholder North Carolina Supreme Court |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Vote Smart, "Anita Earls," accessed August 4, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Anita Earls for North Carolina Supreme Court, “About Anita,” accessed October 31, 2018
- ↑ United States Supreme Court, "Letter to President," January 27, 2022
- ↑ YouTube, "President Biden Delivers Remarks on the Retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer," January 27, 2022
- ↑ NBC News, "Justice Stephen Breyer to retire from Supreme Court, paving way for Biden appointment," January 26, 2022
- ↑ White House, "President Biden Nominates Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to Serve as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court," February 25, 2022
- ↑ YouTube, "President Biden Delivers Remarks on the Retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer," January 27, 2022
- ↑ CBS News, "Biden weighing more than a dozen candidates for Supreme Court vacancy," January 31, 2022
- ↑ USA Today, "Biden considers Judge J. Michelle Childs and may cast wider net for Supreme Court vacancy," January 29, 2022
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | School of Government, "History of North Carolina Judicial Elections," August 2020
- ↑ North Carolina Judicial Branch, "Judicial Qualifications Summary," September 28, 2016
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: North Carolina," accessed September 20, 2021
- ↑ Ballotpedia Election Administration Legislation Tracker, "North Carolina S382," accessed December 19, 2024
- ↑ North Carolina General Assembly, "North Carolina Constitution - Article IV," accessed September 20, 2021 (Section 19)
Federal courts:
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of North Carolina, Middle District of North Carolina, Western District of North Carolina • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of North Carolina, Middle District of North Carolina, Western District of North Carolina
State courts:
Supreme Court of North Carolina • North Carolina Court of Appeals • North Carolina Superior Courts • North Carolina District Courts
State resources:
Courts in North Carolina • North Carolina judicial elections • Judicial selection in North Carolina
