Civil rights advocates and Democratic state legislators defended and praised Wednesday a state Supreme Court justice for suing this week to block a state ethics panel from investigating her public comments that she says are protected by the First Amendment. Leaders of the North Carolina Black Alliance, Emancipate NC and a minister spoke at a Legislative Building news conference in support of Anita Earls, who is the only Black woman on the seven-member court. “In her fight for justice for all people, she had the audacity to speak out about racism and sexism in the North Carolina judicial system," said Rep. Renée Price, an Orange County Democrat and Alliance board member.
Civil rights advocates and Democratic state legislators defended and praised Anita Earls, a state Supreme Court justice, for suing this week to block a state ethics panel from investigating her public comments that she says are protected by the First Amendment.
Civil rights advocates and Democratic state legislators are defending and praising a state Supreme Court justice for suing to block a state ethics panel from investigating her public comments that she says are protected by the First Amendment. They spoke on Wednesday at a Legislative Building news conference in support of Anita Earls, who is the only Black woman on the court. Earls filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission. A commission attorney told her earlier this month that a previous investigation was being reopened in light of a media interview in which she spoke on the Supreme Court’s record related to diversity.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Civil rights advocates and Democratic state legislators defended and praised Wednesday a state Supreme Court justice for suing this week to block a state ethics panel from investigating her public comments that she says are protected by the First Amendment.