Lewis A No-Show At Forum For Supreme Court Candidates | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Barry Smith, who is an associate editor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Martin and candidates for three associate justice posts tout experience at event

    RALEIGH     At a Wednesday forum for candidates seeking four seats on the N.C. Supreme Court, the big surprise was who didn't show: Superior Court Judge Ola Lewis, a Republican who's challenging fellow GOP Chief Justice Mark Martin for the top seat on the court.

    Leaders of the Triangle Lawyers chapter of the Federalist Society, which sponsored the event, said Lewis had accepted an invitation to participate but called at 4:47 p.m. that day to say she had a scheduling conflict and would not attend.

    Meantime, Martin and the candidates for three associate justice positions used the forum as an opportunity to distinguish themselves from their opponents. Experience —whether as judges, litigators, or both — was a common theme from all the candidates. Judicial races officially are nonpartisan.

    Martin, who is running for his third eight-year term on the Supreme Court, said the state's top judicial post is no place for a new member of the high court.

    "I have become intimately familiar in the operations of the office of the chief justice, and would like to use that prior knowledge and experience to strengthen our justice system," Martin said. Martin cited his experience on both the N.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. In his role as chief justice, he is charged with overseeing the operations of the court system in all 100 counties.

    Martin was appointed chief justice by Gov. Pat McCrory effective Sept. 1 when former Chief Justice Sarah Parker reached the mandatory retirement age. He answered criticism of his appointment by saying it has become a tradition for the governor to pick the senior associate justice for the chief justice post if a vacancy arises.


    Justice Bob Hunter, a Republican, and his challenger, Court of Appeals Judge Sam J. Ervin IV, a Democrat, touted their experience in the race for Hunter's seat. Hunter is running for a full term on the court after McCrory selected him to fill the vacancy created when Martin was elevated to chief justice.

    "I'm more experienced; I'm older than he is," Hunter joked when asked what distinguishes himself from his opponent.

    "Well, I'll plead guilty to being a bit younger," Ervin responded.

    Both candidates, who served together on the Court of Appeals before Hunter was promoted, referred to each other as colleagues and friends.

    Ervin is in his first term on the Court of Appeals. Before that, he was on the N.C. Utilities Commission.


    Incumbent Justice Robin Hudson, a Democrat, said she has handled nearly every kind of case the Supreme Court sees, either as a lawyer, or a judge, or both. "I'm the only one in this race who has actually been serving on the Supreme Court for the last eight years, and have spent a lot of time practicing before the Supreme Court as a lawyer," Hudson said. Before joining the Supreme Court, Hudson served on the Court of Appeals.

    Her opponent, Republican Superior Court Judge Eric Levinson, spoke of his experience at the trial court level.

    "I'm the individual in the race who has actually sentenced a person to prison, who has actually presided over a jury trial, who has actually determined whether to terminate the parental rights of a parent or whether to unify that child with a parent, exercised discretion inside the trial courtroom, followed and administered the rules of evidence in a trial court as a judge," Levinson said.

    He is a former District Court judge and a former judge on the Court of Appeals. He also served in the George W. Bush administration as an advisor to help Iraqi and Afghanistan officials set up their judicial systems.


    In the remaining Supreme Court contest, Justice Cheri Beasley, a Democrat, faces Republican attorney Mike Robinson. Beasley was appointed to the Supreme Court in December 2012 by former Gov. Bev Perdue.

    "Judicial experience is important," Beasley said. "I do have a myriad of experience." Beasley also has been a judge on the Court of Appeals and in District Court.

    Robinson said he has spent 34 years in a practice primarily representing business owners, and that experience would bring some diversity of knowledge and expertise to the state's highest court.

    "We don't have a one-size-fits-all Supreme Court," Robinson said

    Moderator Donna Martinez asked Beasley about a quote from the Carteret County News-Times in which she said that there was "confusion by design" about the state's law — which will take effect in the 2016 election cycle — requiring voters to present a state-approved identification card at the polls.

    She said her comment related to question elections officials are asking voters this year if they have a photo ID, even though they are not required to present one until 2016. Election officials have said the practice was implemented to help prepare voters for the 2016 election cycle

    Beasley said she has not decided whether to recuse herself from deliberations on the voter ID law should a challenge to its constitutionality reach the state Supreme Court.