NC Supreme Court Race ... SUPREMELY Important in 2018!

Anita Earls

The filing period for judicial seats in North Carolina has passed, and what some had feared did not come to pass -- a piling on of scores of candidates on the fall ballot because the Republican overlords eliminated judicial primaries. In fact, the lack of primaries for judges just may have bitten the Republican overlords in the butt.

Take the NC Supreme Court seat currently held by Republican Barbara Jackson. She's running again. But so's another last-minute Republican candidate, Christopher Anglin. The lone Democrat, Anita Earls, already seems jet-fueled for the race, and the possibility that Republicans will divide their votes between two contenders opens the path for Earls a little wider.

Anita Earls is a legal rock star. She founded the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and served as its executive director and became a major warrior against voter suppression and the evils of gerrymandering. She was the lead attorney challenging the gerrymandering of the state, the voter ID law, and other voting restrictions. She's been an announced candidate for the Supreme Court since way back last November.

“I passionately believe in the importance of the right to vote, and that an independent judiciary is crucial to the balance of powers necessary to maintain democratic government of, by and for the people,” Earls said. “... In these times, I am seeing how those values are under attack, and I admire the determination of ordinary people who take great risks to stand up for their rights.”

We've all watched for several years now as the overlords rigged the system, or attempted to, save for the intervention of the courts, and we've held our breath in 2018 as the Republicans threatened the entire judicial system with more gerrymandering and a plan to appoint all judges themselves -- a scheme that did not yet mature into reality. Give 'em time!

"...Too often this political process feels like a powerful few rigging the system against a powerless many,” Earls said. “In light of recent attacks on the independence of North Carolina’s judiciary, and on the right of all citizens to cast a ballot that is counted equally, it is clear to me that I have to not just talk the talk, but also must have the courage to walk the walk.”

There is no race as important as this Supreme Court seat in North Carolina -- except maybe for all the other races this year. Our democracy depends on stopping the drift and restoring the concept of checks and balances.