RALEIGH, N.C. (NCN News) — Democratic Representative Marcia Morey, along with fellow Democratic Representatives Deb Butler and Phil Rubin, spoke to reporters on Wednesday, June 3rd about constitutional amendments they have filed regarding Supreme Court ethics, separation of powers, and changes to the North Carolina Judicial Standard Commission. Rep. Morey from Durham says the purpose is to de-weaponize the Judicial Standards Commission of North Carolina. She explained the job of the commission.
“It ensures that judges do not exhibit favoritism to former law partners when hearing cases, judges don’t delay in writing orders, they have not recused themselves from cases where they have a personal or financial interest in the outcome.”
Morey said that she and her cosponsors believe these amendments are critically needed and are meant to correct serious concerns that we have about the fair and impartial administration of justice in the state. She wants to see fair and impartial justice return to North Carolina. “This kind of weaponization is a direct result of the General Assembly making all judicial races partisan in North Carolina,” she said.
Representative Deb Butler took the podium next, and she spoke about how the power of the courts depend on the people in North Carolina. “Their authority ultimately rests on the trust and the confidence of the people. When citizens begin to doubt the impartiality of the judiciary, the legitimacy of judicial decisions suffers,” she said.
Representative Phil Rubin spoke last, and he said that he’s seen a troubling pattern emerge in Raleigh. “When you legislate in the shadows, you are intentionally excluding the people of North Carolina from their own government. And when you do that, who actually gets to write the laws?” he said. “It’s lobbyists, it’s special interests, it’s a few powerful people in this body and not the 170 people who were elected to represent the public.”
Under Morey’s House Bill 1236, appointments would be rebalanced to include five State Bar–selected lawyers, five judges appointed by the Chief Justice, and five appointments by the Governor.