Ervin v. Allen for the NC Supreme Court

Excerpted from PamsPicks.net. 

NC Supreme Court, Associate Justice, Seat 5

NOTE: You may vote for one. Candidates are presented below in the order they appear on your ballot.

Reason for my Endorsement: I believe it’s fair to say that if Allen beats Ervin and joins his rabidly conservative mentor Paul Newby on the court, then we’ll probably never see any unconstitutional action by the Republicans in the General Assembly overturned. While I wish there was a progressive alternative to Ervin, abortion rights, book banning, gerrymandering and voter rights are on the line and  half a loaf is better than no loaf at all.

Sam J. Ervin IV, Democrat

https://www.facebook.com/ervinforjustice

https://www.ervinforjustice.org

https://mobile.twitter.com/samjervin22

Ervin was elected as an associate justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court on November 4, 2014, winning a full term that expires on December 31, 2022. Prior to being elected to the North Carolina Supreme Court, Justice Ervin served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals from 2009 to 2015 and was a member of the North Carolina Utilities Commission from 1999 to 2009.

Ervin, IV attended the public schools in Burke County and graduated in 1974 from Freedom High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Davidson College in 1978, where he majored in history, and earned his law degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1981. 

Some Democrats are conditioned to expect Judge Ervin to be a “swing” vote on the state’s high court, meaning in my book, that he can’t be counted on to issue progressive conclusions of law. I am one of those Democrats, and I wish there was a progressive alternative to Ervin.

As an example, in one recent case, PHG Asheville, LLC, v. City of Asheville, Ervin wrote the majority opinion that Asheville had improperly denied a developer’s application for a conditional use permit to build a hotel in downtown Asheville because “no competent, material, and substantial evidence was presented in opposition.” Which is blatantly false. As the excellent (and always progressive)  Anita Earls painstaking walks through in her dissent, Ervin willingly ignored it.

In some cases, however, Ervin has hung resolutely with the 4-member Democratic majority on such landmark issues as the unconstitutional gerrymandering of legislative seats for the General Assembly. In August, he was the fourth vote for a decision that said the state constitution can’t be amended by lawmakers if they come from districts with borders created in a racially-gerrymandered way.

The NAACP v. Moore case was filed in November 2018 in an attempt to invalidate two constitutional amendments: one requiring a photo ID to vote and one capping the state’s income tax rate. With its new opinion, the North Carolina Supreme Court said that members of the assembly coming from districts with unconstitutional racial gerrymandering could not propose amendments to the state constitution.

Ervin’s endorsements include, among others, NC Association of Civil Defense Attorneys, the North Carolina Association of Educators, the National Association of Social Workers, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and Equality North Carolina.

Trey Allen, Republican

https://www.treyallennc.com/meet-trey

https://www.facebook.com/treyallennc

https://twitter.com/treyallennc

Allen was born in Robeson County. He obtained a bachelor’s degree from UNC Pembroke and a law degree from UNC Chapel Hill.

​Allen began his legal career as a judge advocate in the United States Marine Corps. He spent most of his time in the USMC overseas, and his military service included a deployment to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a judge advocate, he advised commanding generals and subordinate commanders on military justice and operational law matters, prosecuted violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and helped fellow Marines resolve personal legal issues.

​After being honorably discharged, Allen completed a clerkship with Justice (now Chief Justice) Paul Newby of the NC Supreme Court. Following Newby’s installation as Chief Justice in January 2021, Allen was appointed General Counsel for the NC Administrative Office of the Courts.

Paul Newby is a bad cat and has wholeheartedly endorsed Constitutional conservative Allen. 

Allen’s other endorsements include “True Conservative Judges," Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, Senator Phil Berger, and GRNC.org, self-described as “boots on the ground to pass pro-gun laws and stop gun control.”

Inman v. Dietz for the NC Supreme Court

 

PamsPicks.net was published yesterday, and it's my go-to place for information on every candidate on the November ballot in Watauga County (which includes all the statewide races as well as regional ones for US House and the NC General Assembly). (Not quite full disclosure: I know the researcher reasonably well.)

I'll be borrowing directly from her analyses this week and probably into next week. Yesterday, I published her "take" on the election. Today I begin to share her discussion of the several judge races statewide, which are some of the most crucial contests on our ballot. I've added photographs of the candidates.

NC Supreme Court, Associate Justice, Seat 3

NOTE: You may vote for one. Candidates are presented below in the order they appear on your ballot.

Reason for my Endorsement: Dietz and Inman both seem like well qualified and impressive candidates. However, conservative forces who oppose abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, justice for the middle class, increased teacher pay, etc., and who favor continued gerrymandering and suppression of voter rights, only have to flip one Democratic seat on the Supreme Court to take control. In this case, Inman could flip a Republican seat and ensure that we continue to have a legal hedge against the power-grabbing habits of the Republicans in the General Assembly.

Richard Dietz, Republican

https://www.judgedietz.com

https://twitter.com/richard_dietz

https://www.facebook.com/judgericharddietz

Dietz comes from a mountain family (albeit northeast Pennsylvania), becoming the first in his family to attend college. He went on to graduate first in his class from Wake Forest University School of Law and later earned a master’s degree from Duke University School of Law. He was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2014 by Gov. Pat McCrory, went on to win in his own right in 2016, and is now trying to move up to the NC Supreme Court with two years remaining in his Court of Appeals term.

Dietz handled a number of high-profile appeals in private practice. He argued on behalf of the Petitioner in the U.S. Supreme Court in Abramski v. United States, a prominent gun law case that addressed the scope of the straw man purchaser doctrine. Dietz’s client lost the case in a 5-4 decision. Dietz also represented a class of hundreds of thousands of Native Americans in several appeals in the Cobell v. Salazar (1996) litigation involving the U.S. government’s mismanagement of Indian trust money.

Dietz previously served as Vice Chair of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section and currently serves on the Appellate Section Council and the Appellate Rules Committee. In 2013, he was appointed to a four-year term on the North Carolina Courts Commission, a group of judges, lawyers, legislators, and private citizens who study and recommend changes to the court system. He is a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference and a member of the Appellate Judges Conference of the American Bar Association.

Dietz is a North Carolina board certified specialist in Appellate Practice. He is one of only two appellate specialists on the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals and one of only 27 board certified specialists in North Carolina.

Dietz’s endorsements include the Polie Benevolent Association and the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police.

Lucy Inman, Democrat

https://mobile.twitter.com/judgelucyinman/with_replies

https://www.lucyinmanforjustice.com

https://www.facebook.com/judgelucyinman

Inman is a graduate of NC State University and the University of North Carolina School of Law. Her first career was as a newspaper reporter. While covering court proceedings, she was inspired to get her law degree. Her first job after law school was working as a law clerk for North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Exum.

Inman was elected to the NC Court of Appeals in 2014, and her term is expiring this year. She ran in 2020 for a Supreme Court seat against Phil Berger Jr., but lost. She’s trying again this year.

From 1992 to 2010, Inman practiced civil litigation in matters including commercial disputes, catastrophic injury, medical negligence, and sexual abuse. From 2010-2014, Inman served as a special Superior Court judge, presiding in hearings and jury trials across North Carolina. She has authored more than 500 appellate opinions and participated in thousands of other decisions.

Inman says, “I’m running for the Supreme Court because North Carolinians deserve justices who decide each case fairly and impartially, free of any political agenda, and without fear or favor.” One  of her campaign ads emphasizes fairness and humanity in the North Carolina Courts.

Inman’s endorsements include, among many others, Equality NC, the Durham People’s Alliance, the National Association of Social Workers, the NC Sierra Club, and over thirty retired and former NC judges.

PamsPicks.net -- Her Take on This Year's Election in NC

 

Copied from PamsPicks.net, just posted this afternoon: "My Take on This Year's 2022 General Election"

Neither can we.

Galadriel of the Noldor, the beautiful Daughter of the Golden House of Finarfin, the Commander of the Northern Armies of High King Gilgalad, and the oldest of Elves in the world of J. R. R. Tolkien. Beaten down, hair and flesh singed from fire, not a bath in God knows how long, and scorned for her persistence in a seemingly hopeless fight against the evil ORCs:

Halbrand: “Why do you keep fighting?”

Galadriel: “Because I cannot stop.” 

Our crisis isn’t coming. It’s already here.

No matter how tired or frustrated or overwhelmed we may feel, no matter how singed or beaten down, we have to keep fighting back too. It’s what is required of us in the moment of history. Not just for ourselves, but for generations to come and to do justice to the fundamentals of a democracy our ancestors fought and died for.

It’s not that America hasn’t weathered some pretty serious biggies over its history–the Great Depression, World Wars, Cold Wars, assassinations, riots, discrimination, and a disgraced, run out of town, President. But through all of these and other crises, American democracy held tight.

It’s not holding anymore.

• Roe v. Wade is gone, killed off by a now radically right-wing, illegitimate appointed Supreme Court.
• In 2021 alone, 19 states passed restrictive voting laws aimed against  people of color, the poor, and young voters. “This is not politics as usual,” said Carol Anderson, the author of the book, “One Person, No Vote,” about voter suppression. “Be afraid.”
• Thousands of desperate refugees who have legally fled to America to escape authoritarian regimes are being inhumanly rounded up, bused to and dropped off on the streets of other states without notification or means.
• Inadequate traction on addressing disastrous climate change that is already affecting the lives, livelihoods, and futures of people all over the word.
• Attacks under the name of God to threaten public school teachers and to remove books that tell the truth about our nation’s history, that tell the sacrifices of Blacks to get a seat on the bus, and that offer the stories of our LGBTQ friends.
• Gerrymandering and packing of election districts to dilute the votes of the majority: “the impacts of partisan gerrymandering are comparable to switching the majority of votes in 22 states.”
• A public that is spoon fed and consumed by conspiracy theories.
• JANUARY 6TH

And the list goes on. This November’s midterm elections are set to possibly change, or worse kill off, America’s democracy once and for all and reset political and social norms for generations to come. Every single seat in the US House of Representatives is up for grabs, and the GOP needs only five to take control of the House. One single election result may change the face and direction of the US Senate.

And down ballot… now pay attention… in North Carolina the races for judicial seats, state legislatures, and school boards will decide important issues regarding abortion rights, health care opportunities, the fate of immigrants, the banning of public school books, same sex marriage, voting rights, and equality and justice for all of us.

Yes. We’re this underdogs this year but that didn’t stop Galadriel, and we can’t let it stop us. “Equality and democracy are under assault,” President Biden said in a speech this month. “We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise.”

There are two pages to your ballot this year. Mark both of them, all the way through, for candidates who believe that the equality and justice is more important than power and money.

That includes….  trying to keep the US Senate majority by voting for Cheri Beasley and trying to take the Republicans  down one in the state House by voting for Ben Massey.

That includes marking every single one of the judges– As you dig under the rocks to read my candidate discussions about the judges this year, you’ll keep running into names like Paul Newby and Phil Berger and endorsements by the Federalist Society. That’s the  same Society that installed Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett onto the US Supreme Court. The Federalist Society “has become one of the most influential legal organizations in history—not only shaping law students’ thinking but changing American society itself by deliberately, diligently shifting the country’s judiciary to the right.”

And that includes… Not missing those Watauga Board of Education candidates on the second page of your ballot. If you want more info, read this.

So if you believe, as I do, that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, then get up, suit up, make your voice heard, and fight back. “The Quest Stands Upon The Edge Of A Knife.” —Galadriel

See you at the polls. Don’t forget to take a friend!