Monitoring the NC Court of Appeals and NC Supreme Court
NC Court of Appeals
Judge John Arrowood spoke in April 2025 in Boone to provide helpful insights into the role of the NC Court of Appeals. Here's a recap of his remarks.
Judge Arrowood focused on making us aware of why these court races matter. "What your neighbors need to know is that the North Carolina Court of Appeals is the court of last resort for 90% of appeals." The Republican-dominated NC legislature recently made it more difficult for cases to move to the NC Supreme Court. "Almost anyone who walks into the courthouse with a litigation matter, it affects their life" that 90-93% of cases stop at the Court of Appeals. He observed that there were times when the Republican majority seemed comfortable overlooking legal protections written in the statutes. (We in the Persisters saw this in action in how this Republican-dominated court contorted the law to try to help get their pal Griffin into the NC Supreme Court seat after he lost the election.)
Arrowood pointed out that the current Court of Appeals has 12 Republicans and 3 Democrats. The 3 Democrats are Allegra Collins, John Arrowood, and Toby Hampson, and all 3 of those seats are up for reelection in November 2026, as is Justice Anita Earls, one of the few Democrats serving on the NC Supreme Court. If voters protect the seats held by the Democrats next year and add more Democrats in 2028, the Court of Appeals could become a more balanced court. Judge Arrowood also commented that Justice Riggs has warned that the Republican party wants to change the court seats to retention elections, which would make it easier for the Republicans to retain their seats in the future.
NC Supreme Court
Critical background on the role of the NC Supreme Court in gerrymandering and undermining democracy and representation in North Carolina can be found at Flip NC's Fair Maps Alliance: https://flipnc.org/nc-fair-maps
We will update more here soon.
The Republican attempt to win a NC Supreme Court seat through the courts instead of the ballot box
Click on this link to read our background and updates on defeated Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin's shameless attempts to toss out votes by those he suspected voted against him. Griffin finally conceded in May 2025, six months after he lost the election.