On this episode of Legal Magnolias, hosts Maggie and Sonya talk with North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls about her campaign to remain on the state's highest court and why so many of the rights people care about now rest with state courts rather than federal ones. Justice Earls walks through her path from civil rights litigator to the bench and why she ran for the state's highest court directly rather than working her way up through the lower courts.

The conversation covers a lot of ground: the Leandro decision and the state's constitutional promise of a "sound basic education," a utilities ruling that lets North Carolinians in different parts of the state pay different rates for the same power, and why Justice Earls has written an unusually high number of dissents in recent years. She also breaks down how partisan gerrymandering actually works, why state supreme court races are decided by razor-thin margins, and why she believes judicial independence should be what voters weigh when they get to that part of the ballot. In eloquent and simple terms, Justice Earls reminds us how and why every vote matters.

About the guest

Justice Anita Earls has served on the North Carolina Supreme Court since 2018, when she became the first justice elected in the court's newly partisan elections. Before taking the bench, she practiced civil rights law, including at the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, and founded the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, where she worked for over a decade before running for the state's highest court. On the bench, she has become known for detailed, plainly written dissents on redistricting, environmental protection, and utility regulation, and for her advocacy around judicial independence and voter turnout in down-ballot races. She is currently seeking re-election to her seat this November. Learn more: https://earls4justice.com/

Legal Magnolias is a podcast from Magnolia Legal in Durham, North Carolina — hosted by Sonya Linton and Maggie Davis. Follow the show on LinkedIn and Facebook. Learn more about the firm at magnolialegal.com.

Music by Tim Sheahan | Everyday Knife Fight | Chapel Hill, NC

Produced by Sara Hofman | McNeely Web Design | Raleigh, NC

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