NC ethics panel drops investigation into Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls

NC Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls had sued the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission to stop an investigation into her for giving media interviews in which she spoke about racial, political and gender biases at the Supreme Court, where she's the only Black justice.

Posted 4:56 p.m. Jan 17 — Updated 5:07 p.m. Jan 17

Will Doran

, WRAL state government reporter

The judicial ethics panel that had been investigating North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls is dropping the investigation — with no recommendation for discipline, Earls announced Wednesday.

At the same time, she also dropped her federal lawsuit against the commission. She had accused it of violating her First Amendment rights.

Earls had been investigated by the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission for giving media interviews last year in which she spoke about racial, political and gender biases at the Supreme Court — where she's the only Black justice — and also suggested that the court's GOP's majority had made decisions in some cases based on their political beliefs rather than the rule of law.

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“I continue to believe that the First Amendment protects my ability to speak about matters of racial equity in the legal system," Earls said in a written statement Wednesday. "However, I see no need to continue the litigation since the Commission has dismissed the complaint against me and at this time I no longer face being disciplined by the Court. I am enormously grateful to all the individuals and organizations, in North Carolina and nationally, who supported me while this case was pending.”

She had also been previously investigated over a WRAL report about changes at the Supreme Court, which critics deemed a power grab by the new Republican majority that gained control of the court after the 2022 elections. That investigation was similarly dropped with no action against her.

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It's confidential who ordered the investigations into Earls. But some of her supporters have said they suspect Republican Chief Justice Paul Newby, who has repeatedly not responded to requests for comment.

Earls herself has declined to point any fingers, but both she and her supporters have said they believe the investigation was nothing more than an attempt to silence her — and, by extension, other Black lawyers and judges — from speaking out about systemic racism in the justice system.

Earls was a nationally known civil rights attorney and founder of the Durham-based Southern Coalition for Social Justice before her election to the court in 2018. At the time, Newby told a GOP audience her election worried him so much he lost sleep at night.