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Paul Martin Newby
2005 - Present
2029
20
Paul Martin Newby (Republican Party) is a judge of the North Carolina Supreme Court. He assumed office on January 1, 2005. His current term ends on January 1, 2029.
Newby (Republican Party) ran for election for judge of the North Carolina Supreme Court. He won in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Newby completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Newby first became a member of the North Carolina Supreme Court through a nonpartisan election.[1] He was first elected to the court in 2004 to the seat vacated by Robert Orr. To read more about judicial selection in North Carolina, click here.
Newby was elected chief justice in 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 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.[2] Newby received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Paul Martin Newby was born in Asheboro, North Carolina. Newby received his B.A. in public policy studies from Duke University and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.[4] Newby began his law practice with Van Winkle, Buck, Wall, Starnes and Davis. He has also served as the vice president and general counsel of Cannon Mills Realty and Development Corporation. In 1985, Newby was appointed as Assistant U.S. Attorney in Raleigh, where he served until his election to the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2004. Newby has also worked as an adjunct professor at Campbell University School of Law. As of the 2020 election, Newby had served with the Christ Baptist Church, the Occoneechee Council, and Boy Scouts of America.[4][5]
Elections
2020
See also: North Carolina Supreme Court elections, 2020
General election
General election for North Carolina Supreme Court
Paul Martin Newby defeated incumbent Cheri Beasley in the general election for North Carolina Supreme Court on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Paul Martin Newby (R)  | 50.0 | 2,695,951 |
 | Cheri Beasley (D) | 50.0 | 2,695,550 | |
| Total votes: 5,391,501 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Cheri Beasley advanced from the Democratic primary for North Carolina Supreme Court.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Paul Martin Newby advanced from the Republican primary for North Carolina Supreme Court.
Campaign finance
2012
- See also: North Carolina judicial elections, 2012
Newby defeated Judge Sam Ervin in the general election on November 6, winning 51.90% of the vote.[6]
Campaign themes
2020
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released October 17, 2020 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Paul Martin Newby completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Newby's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Equal Justice under the Law: The courts must treat everyone the same. The law must be fairly, impartially, and consistently applied in every case. The Rule of Law must be followed.
- Justice Delayed is Justice Denied. Every party is entitled to have their case tried in a timely manner. The NC Constitution guarantees that justice will "be administered without favor, denial, or delay." Art. 1, sec. 18
- Public Trust and Confidence in Our System of Justice is Foundational. Civic education is vital for a proper understanding of the role of each branch of government, particularly the judiciary. The NC Constitution reminds us that understanding fundamental principles is required "to preserve the blessings of liberty." Art. 1, Sec. 35
I strive to live up to the highest standards of integrity, trying to be sure my behavior is beyond reproach. I always try to do what I say. I try to treat others the way I want to be treated.
I strive to serve others both personally and professionally. I mentor young people through teaching at Campbell Law and providing a large internship program.
I strive to ensure that my work is always done with excellence. I took an oath to apply faithfully the Constitutions of the United States and of North Carolina, and my work for 16 years reflects my efforts.
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.
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.[7]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[8]
- 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.
Paul Martin
Newby
North Carolina
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Newby was a registered Republican as of 2020. He donated $1,200 to Republican candidates. He received $1,000 from the Moore County Republican Party and $1,000 from Neal Hunt for North Carolina Senate. He was endorsed by Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R), Christian Action League of North Carolina, and the Caldwell Republican Club. Newby won a special election to the North Carolina Supreme Court following the resignation of North Carolina Supreme Court justice Robert F. Orr in 2004. North Carolina was a Democratic trifecta when he was elected to the state supreme court.
Other Scores:
Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Newby received a campaign finance score of 0.75, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of -0.01 that justices received in North Carolina.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[9]
Noteworthy events
Recount in the North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice election (2020)
On November 17, 2020, Cheri Beasley (D) requested a recount in the race for Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Based on official results, Paul Newby (R) had a 406 vote lead.[10] The initial machine recount was completed on December 2, and showed Newby ahead by 401 votes. Beasley then requested a hand-to-eye recount in a random sample of precincts, which was completed on December 15. It showed Newby to be the winner by a margin of 412 votes.[11][12][13]
To read more about the recount, click here.
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.[14]
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.[15]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court is elected by voters to serve in that capacity for an eight-year term.[16]
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.[17] An election is then held for a full eight-year term.[18][14]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Candidate North Carolina Supreme Court |
Officeholder North Carolina Supreme Court |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ At the time of Newby's election, elections to the North Carolina Supreme Court were nonpartisan. The state adopted partisan elections for the supreme and appellate courts in 2016.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Project Vote Smart, Associate Justice Paul M. Newby (NC)
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 17, 2020
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "2004 General Election Results," accessed August 5, 2021
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ Times Union, "Close race for North Carolina chief justice going to recount," Accessed November 17, 2020.
- ↑ WBTV, "Hand-to-eye recount to begin as Newby leads by 400 votes in race for N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice," Accessed December 9, 2020.
- ↑ Carteret County News-Times, "County wraps up hand-eye recount; protest appeal withdrawn," December 15, 2020
- ↑ North Carolina Board of Elections, "State Board Certifies Supreme Court Contest, Removes County Board Member During Final Meeting of 2020," December 18, 2020
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 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)
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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
