NC Senate approves judicial oversight measure despite warnings of politicization

North Carolina Senate Democrats are concerned that a bill making changes to court processes will make the judicial branch more political. 

Presented by Sen. Warren Daniel, R-Burke, House Bill 377 passed the Senate 26-11 on party lines Wednesday. 

The final version of H377 gives the state Supreme Court the power to censure, publicly reprimand, suspend or remove judges at its discretion, even if the Judicial Standards Commission hasn’t recommended it. H377 also allows the chief justice of the Supreme Court to suspend a trial court judge without pay while the judge is under investigation, if the Judicial Standards Commission recommends it.

“It provides some due process elements for that,” Daniel said. 

Sen. Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, said she’s worried about the increasing politicization of the courts.

She said the provision comes at a time when there’s low confidence among many people about the impartiality and fairness of the courts. In the current political climate, Grafstein said, there’s an “increasing use of power to intimidate and to enforce compliance with political preferences.” 

It also may give too much power to the chief justice, she said. 

“My concern about this provision specifically is that it invests a great deal of power in one individual to engage in suspension of judges who are supposed to be neutral arbiters, who are supposed to be outside of political influence,” Grafstein said. 

North Carolina judges are elected, not appointed for life, so the change may pressure them to make decisions that they believe the Judicial Standards Commission and the state Supreme Court, both controlled by Republican majorities, will approve, Grafstein argued. 

“We are on a really dangerous path in the way that we have vested power in fewer and fewer people, and that we’re doing that at a time when that power is being abused in so many ways,” she said. 

Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, asked why the provision was added to the bill. 

NC House Democrats call for changes to protect judicial independence, balance of powers

Daniel said it was requested by the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts.

“There’s currently a process for suspension without pay for clerk support and for assistant district attorneys,” he said. “There’s not one for judicial members, so it felt like this was conforming to those other officials.”

Daniel said there are guidelines in place to provide due process for a suspended judge.

If a chief justice decides to immediately remove or suspend a trial judge, it needs to be upon recommendation from the Judicial Standards Commission, he said, adding that that would only happen when there is “immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage to the public or the administration of justice.” 

“This is not a provision where somebody is going to just do a witch hunt based on ideology,” Sen. Amy Galey, R-Alamance, said, taking issue with Grafstein’s concerns.

“The position that this is some kind of boogeyman way that we’re going to have pretext to get rid of people based on politics, it’s really unfounded and does a lot to undermine our confidence in the integrity of the system and also in the deliberations of this body,” Galey said.