A North Carolina supreme court justice is suing the state’s judicial standards commission for allegedly violating her right to freedom of speech. After Justice Anita Earls made public comments about the lack of diversity in the North Carolina court system, the commission launched an investigation into her statements. According to a federal lawsuit filed by Earls’ lawyers, she has been “subjected to a series of months-long intrusive investigations,” which have led to a “chilling of her first amendment rights”.
In a June article on Law360, Earls pointed out the lack of diversity among North Carolina supreme court law clerks. “If you look at who is hired to serve as clerks to the justices … we have plenty of female clerks, but on racial diversity we’re lacking,” Earls said in the interview, pointing out that there was only one Black clerk and one Latina clerk employed in the court’s latest term.
