McDems Stacy W.: Our courts are on the ballot in 2026 — and we must pay attention.
Presented to the McDowell County Democratic Party 07.29.25 Monthly Meeting By: Stacy Watson, 3rd Vice Chair.
Many people don’t realize that the judicial branch is the branch of government with the most elected officials. This includes local judges, district court judges, superior court judges, appellate judges, and clerks of court. The Court of Appeals is an error-correcting court, working to make sure there is a uniform interpretation of the law across the state. Judicial elections have been somewhat ignored in terms of importance with most voters, however the recent tendency for Republicans to continually test the legality of our US and state constitutions is a real threat to democracy and the rule of law in general.
Right now, the N.C. Supreme Court has a 5-2 Republican majority, and the N.C. Court of Appeals has an 11-4 Republican majority. About 95% of all court cases go through state courts and many state constitutions, including North Carolina’s, go further than the U.S. Constitution in protecting individual rights and ensuring political power and is derived from the people. The criminal justice sector and judges on these benches hold an incredible amount of power over life and death, especially in death penalty cases. They’re the ones who decide whether evidence of innocence is considered and whether racial bias in jury selection gets corrected.
In 2020, North Carolina elected Paul Newby as Chief Justice, who has been a justice of the NC SCOTUS since 2008. That race was decided by a mere 401 votes out of 5.4 million votes cast that year. It’s not only the SCOTUS that is concerning, but the Court of Appeals is also threatened by un-Constitutional Republicans. With the assaults upon environmental protections and citizens’ liberties, the Republican party has succeeded in backsliding decades of progress.
Our judiciary is the guard rails of democracy, ensuring Constitutional law is enforced. Sadly, our Constitution is not perfect, leading to different interpretations of how the laws should be applied. Granted, there are many gray areas that are yet to be completely resolved, but blatant disregard for first amendment rights and provisions like the emoluments clause that prohibits the federal government from granting titles of nobility and restricts federal officials from receiving gifts, emoluments, offices, or titles from foreign states without congressional consent are becoming the norm thanks to extreme partisanship in our courts. The constant court-baiting by our president and the GOP is testing what can be done to circumvent the purpose of established laws and government operations. Migrants and American citizens are denied Habeus Corpus, refusing a fair hearing before deportation and/ or incarceration.
The N.C. Supreme Court, with its 5-2 Republican majority, blocked $677 million allocation in the state budget approved by our states legislature that our public schools desperately need, while lifting much needed anti-pollution regulations to protect our air and water. Their success with discrimination against non-Christians, minorities and LGBTQ citizens has essentially been encouraged by our president and his followers.
Republican Chief Justice Paul Newby granted a rehearing and restored the voter ID law that the Democratic court had struck down as racially discriminatory. Now, people without photo IDs – including the elderly, people with disabilities, and those without a fixed address – face unfair barriers to voting.
The court has made it harder for injured workers and consumers to get justice. Republican justices have put corporate profits over people. The three Republicans elected in 2020 have voted in favor of employers or corporations – and against injured people – more than three-quarters of the time. Our Supreme Court justice Newby ruled for corporations 89% of the time.
Following the Dobbs decision, the GOP-controlled state legislature passed a 12-week abortion ban. Republican control of our state’s courts has discouraged constitutional challenges, including features of the law that may put mothers’ lives at risk. In a recent parental rights case, a Republican Court of Appeals judge referenced a 1949 case in which the court held that, “the life of a human being begins at the moment of conception in the mother’s womb.” Joining that decision was Judge Jefferson Griffin, who incidentally challenged Democratic Justice Allison Riggs for her seat on the State Supreme Court.
Since taking control of the NC Supreme Court, the Republican-led court has ruled that Martin Marietta, an industrial polluter, can discharge 12 million gallons of wastewater into Blounts Creek every day. The GOP justices have a track record of ruling in favor of corporations over people the vast majority of the time, a troubling sign for future rulings on environmental protections.
When Justice Anita Earls, the only Black justice on the State Supreme Court, acknowledged the existence of racial bias in the courtroom, Chief Justice Paul Newby pushed for an ethics investigation against her with was ultimately dismissed. Despite extensive evidence, Newby claims that racial bias in the courtroom doesn’t exist. In 2020, Newby said that race “just doesn’t come into the picture in the criminal justice system that I’ve been a part of for 40 years.”
The NC Republican-controlled court refused to define a legal standard for cases of racial profiling, effectively dismissing a challenge to the arrest of a Black man by a Raleigh police officer with a pattern of targeting Black motorists (comprising 82% of the officer’s total traffic stops versus 28% of the population). Selective enforcement of the law based on race is prohibited by the N.C. constitution, but without a mechanism for enforcement, racial profiling can run unchecked.
Newby is a conservative Christian who wants to seat judges who share his belief that it’s their duty as judges to “fulfill our biblical mandate to be ambassadors for Christ.” At a rally supporting House Bill 2 (the “bathroom bill”), Newby said, “Let me tell you as a judge, our religious liberties are hanging by a thread.” The conservative court signals that it will be of no help protecting LGBTQ rights.
One of the Republican justices, Richard Dietz, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that a federal law banning the purchase of a gun on someone else’s behalf was unconstitutional. The Court rejected Dietz’s argument and kept the ban on “straw purchases” in place.
No judicial elections are on the ballot this year, but next year we have Justice Anita Earls who is a Democrat up for re-election for Supreme Court Seat 1 in 2026. Her opponent is Sarah Stevens, a state rep., serving since 2009, who is an advocate of de-regulation of sea fishing and limiting the authority of the state’s executive branch to enact new regulations in North Carolina. She is also a strict anti-abortionist. Quote: “North Carolina should act to ban the practice of abortion entirely and secure the right to life for all persons.”
John S. Arrowood also up for re-election, was appointed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals 1 by Governor Roy Cooper in April 2017 to replace Judge Douglas McCullough, a Republican who resigned one month before he would have reached the mandatory retirement age. Arrowood states, “as an LGBTQ citizen I am most uncomfortable with the Constitutional Amendment that prohibited same sex marriages and that line of cases where our State Supreme Court has held that second parent same sex adoptions are not permissible in North Carolina.” An April 2012 Public Policy Polling found that only 40% of North Carolina voters actually knew that Amendment 1 bans both same-sex marriage and civil unions. No Republican opponent has been chosen by primary to oppose Arrowood yet.
Toby Hampson, the Democrat incumbent for the Court of Appeals seat 2 since 2019, defended the election of Allison Riggs by challenging facts by saying that her opponent Griffin hadn’t identified a single voter who was ineligible to vote in the November elections under the rules governing the election. Hampson’s policy maintains that our families and livelihoods are protected only when we have faith that the courts are protecting the rights of all North Carolinians. Judge Hampson has been and will be a voice for protecting our liberties by standing for justice and equity for all. The Republicans have yet to produce his opponent in their primaries.
Allegra Collins (Democratic Party) is a judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals seat 3. She assumed office on January 1, 2019. She has announced that she would not seek re-election. In her place, Democrat Christine Walczyk will run for the position. Judge Walczyk is Wake County’s longest-serving district court trial judge, with 18 years on the bench. Trusted by both Democratic and Republican court leaders, she’s held key leadership roles—including nine years as Lead Judge in Family Court and her current post as Lead Judge in general civil court. She’s not just experienced—she’s respected, effective, and deeply committed to justice. A magna cum laude graduate of Boston College and a UNC Law alum, Judge Walczyk also chairs the Judicial Division of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys, continuing to lead beyond the bench. Until the Republican primaries, they have no opponent.
While the emphasis regarding elections is mainly about senators, representatives, governors and presidents, the profound effect our court system has toward decency and betterment of American lives is severely underrated. If opposition is not present against un-Constitutional court decisions made by a lawless majority of judges, our democracy dies. We must make it a priority to inform our fellow citizens how this directly affects their livelihoods.