Morgan Flips Supreme Court; GOP Sweeps Court Of Appeals | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is John Trump,who is a contributor to Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Victory by Judge Mike Morgan could affect rulings on school choice, redistricting, and voting rights

    The North Carolina Supreme Court has moved to the left.

    A win by Wake County Superior Court Judge Mike Morgan against Associate Justice Bob Edmunds, who has served on the court since 2001, effectively flipped the court to the Democrats.

    Morgan got 54 percent of the vote to Edmunds' 46 percent.

    The race is technically nonpartisan, though Morgan's win and Edmunds' loss changes the makeup of the court to 4-3, Democrats over Republicans.

    "This could have all sorts of consequences for the fate of voter ID measures, redistricting plans, and school-choice programs passed by the Republican-controlled legislature," says John Dinan, a politics professor at Wake Forest University.

    Republicans did well in races throughout North Carolina, and across the country, so Morgan's win is bit of an anomaly.

    Dinan did not expect such a large margin of victory for Morgan. "The win, and particularly the size of the win, is surprising because it is somewhat out of step with other results this election," Dinan says. "Morgan will have won his race by close to 10 percentage points in the same election where Republicans won reasonable-size victories for president and Senate and where the gubernatorial candidates battled to a near tie. I don't have an easy explanation for this outcome."

    Morgan, who has served as a judge in varying roles since 1989, gained attention during the campaign when he garnered an endorsement from President Obama, who, citing issues as redistricting, civil rights, and school vouchers, in a news release has said Morgan is fair, experienced, and more than qualified.

    "We need judges with a track record of reviewing cases and acting in a consistent, impartial manner," the president said.

    Morgan has been a Superior Court judge for more than 11 years, and he was a district court judge in Wake County for 10 years.

    "I can be a change agent in terms of helping my colleagues on the high court understand, and appreciate, and recognize some of the deficiencies or strengths in the trial court records," Morgan, a New Bern native, told Carolina Journal during the campaign.

    The state's high court makes no determinations of fact but rather considers whether error occurred in trial or during judicial interpretation of the law.

    "I don't believe politics should play a part in the legal decisions of a judge, and I believe there's a difference there that appears to exist," Morgan told CJ in comparing himself to Edmunds.

    Edmunds was elected to eight-year terms in 2000 and 2008. A Navy veteran, Edmunds was also an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of North Carolina, a partner in private practice. He served on the state appellate court before his election to the Supreme Court.

    GOP sweeps Court of Appeals

    Phil Berger Jr., son of the Senate leader Phil Berger and former Rockingham County district attorney, narrowly defeated incumbent Linda Stephens, originally appointed to the court by Gov. Mike Easley. Berger ran unsuccessfully for a congressional seat in 2014.

    Berger won by fewer than 27,000 votes in what was a Republican sweep of the appeals races.

    Hunter Murphy, a Republican, won the seat formerly held by Martha Geer, who was elected to the court in 2002 but stepped down in 2016 to practice law. Her term would have expired in 2018. Murphy also beat Margaret Eagles, the Democrat, and Independent Donald Ray Buie.

    Murphy got 49 percent of the vote; Eagles, 46 percent, and Buie, 6 percent.

    Three incumbents kept their seats on the court. Republican Bob Hunter, who first was elected to the court in 2008, defeated Democrat Abe Jones, 54 percent to 46 percent. Hunter was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Pat McCrory in 2014 to fill a temporary vacancy but he lost in that November's election to current Justice Sam Ervin IV. McCrory then appointed Hunter to the Court of Appeals to fill the vacancy left by Ervin.

    Richard Dietz, the Republican, defeated Vince Rozier, a Democrat. Dietz, who actually replaced Hunter when he moved to the Supreme Court, was appointed by Gov. Pat McCrory in 2014. Dietz got 54 percent of the vote to Rozier's 46 percent.

    Republican incumbent Valerie Zachary, appointed by McCrory in 2015, beat Rickye McKoy-Mitchell, the Democrat, 54 percent to 46 percent.

    The N.C. Court of Appeals is comprised of 15 judges who sit on three-judge rotating panels. The panels review errors in legal procedures or in judicial interpretation of the law. The court hears civil and criminal appeals from the lower courts and makes decision based on law, not fact. Judges serve eight-year terms. A 2015 state law added to the ballot party affiliation for candidates vying for a seat on the state's appellate court.