News » North Carolina’s Supreme Court Added A New Rule – Nobody Knows How Or Why

North Carolina’s Supreme Court Added A New Rule – Nobody Knows How Or Why

November 30, 2016

File Stack and Magnifying Glass

On Election Day, the North Carolina Supreme Court added a new rule that will allow it to call back retired judges on a case-by-case basis to avoid potential deadlocks. But how that rule came to be, and why it was added to the books, remains a mystery. Officials at the state Administrative Office of the Courts has said that memoranda, documents, and correspondence related to the new order are not subject to public records law. The amendment was signed into law by the state Supreme Court’s clerk at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, before the election results were in. Under the new rule, when a justice recuses him or herself from a case, or has been disqualified from hearing the case, the chief justice may, “when necessary to avoid the possibility of an evenly divided disposition,” call in a retired justice to participate. Though ties are rare, North Carolina’s highest court has seen a few high-profile instances in recent years, including in cases related to the state’s lottery, and how justices stand for re-election.

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