Anita Earls

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]

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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.

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—Anita Earl’s campaign website (2018)[5]

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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.