We recently sat down with Justice Riggs, one of two Democrats on the N.C. Supreme Court, who is defending her seat in November’s election. In this portion of our wide-ranging conversation (don’t miss Parts 2, 3, and 4!), she talks about her civil rights background, her decision to become a judge, the importance of judicial elections to the future of our state, and how her values make her a better member of the bench.
On her background
I have been on the North Carolina Supreme Court [since the fall of 2023]. Prior to that, I served for almost 10 months on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Before that, though, I spent nearly 15 years as a civil rights attorney based out of Durham. I came to that organization where I worked my entire career, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, straight out of law school. I wanted to work for now Justice Anita Earls and had gotten to know her during law school and the vision that she had for a community lawyering organization in the South, providing holistic civil rights supports to community-based groups across the South. Her vision and her ability to describe how she wanted to see change done moved me.
And we started working together when I was still sleeping on my sister's couch for free, trying to figure out how to make this work. I loved every minute I spent working hand-in-hand with community-based organizations at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. I started as an unpaid fellow, worked my way up to staff attorney, senior counsel, chief counsel for voting rights, and ended as the co-executive director for programs. I was overseeing our programmatic work in environmental justice, voting rights, and justice system reform. And it was the work that drove me – that work still continues to inform my perspective from the bench, and I got to work with a lot of amazing clients and on a lot of amazing cases while I was there.
On her decision to become a judge
I just woke up the day after the November 2022 elections and realized that the work that my clients had been doing, that successful work, was going to be dealt a blow by losing the control of the North Carolina Supreme Court. I wanted to be a part of a solution.
My story of how I came to the bench is one that I hope resonates with folks. I certainly saw the importance of having great judges on the bench – intellectually rigorous, open minded. I've always had the deepest respect for judges who would listen, with an ear for equity, to the arguments I made on behalf of my clients. I mean, for a woman my age, maybe it was a career aspiration that I was happy to put in the “10 years down the road” bucket. But we had been shifting a lot of our work, particularly in voting rights, in my civil rights work, to state courts, as the federal courts were becoming less willing to hear our cases and consider our claims. Particularly during the administration of President Trump, the federal courts got more challenging for the work that I was doing. We were turning more to state courts to look for relief.
Federal constitutions provide the floor for our rights, but state constitutions can provide the ceiling. That's another way of saying: State constitutions can be more protective than the federal constitution, can define and enforce different rights. And so we looked to state constitutions for rights on public education, on voting rights, on environmental rights. And in particular, 2021 to 2022, I led the legal team challenging North Carolina's 2021 redistricting plans as extreme partisan gerrymanders, brought under North Carolina's free elections clause among other constitutional protections. We're very lucky in North Carolina to have a free elections clause; there isn't a counterpart in the federal constitution. This is that ceiling aspect to protecting our rights that I'm talking about. And though it was challenging, we were able to get those 2021 maps struck down as extreme partisan gerrymanders that violated the North Carolina constitution.
I was so honored to be working with groups like Common Cause and the North Carolina NAACP to get that done. And then I knew that control of the North Carolina Supreme Court was at stake. In the November 2022 elections, I was working in a 501c3 in an expressly non-partisan, non-political role, but was trying to do what I could to make sure that folks understood that they needed to care about judicial elections. And ultimately, I just woke up the day after the November 2022 elections and realized that the work that my clients had been doing, that successful work, was going to be dealt a blow by losing the control of the North Carolina Supreme Court. I wanted to be a part of a solution. We needed to reimagine how we approached judicial elections in this state.
I had some conversations with Governor Cooper about a vacancy on the Court of Appeals. I thought running as a Court of Appeals judge – given my background talking to voters, given my interest in improving our courts in the state at every level, and my willingness to think outside the box, experiment, try different ways of communicating with voters – that I could be part of that solution. The timing wasn't planned. But I think you get called to serve in ways sometimes that wasn't in your plan book, that wasn't on your timing in your schedule. But I knew that it was going to take several election cycles to get North Carolina courts back working for the people of this state, that we couldn't wait until 2028 when the courts can flip back, to develop a plan and start making the changes that we want to see and how we talk about judicial elections, how judicial candidates talk to voters.
Justice Riggs spoke about her values at FLIP NC’s 2024 launch party
The urgency of that moment in November 2022 spoke to me. And that's why I stepped up to serve then and there. I do, though, love being on the bench; this wasn't just a political decision for me to run. I've been a community lawyer, but I've been a litigator. When you're defending folks who wouldn't have counsel otherwise, when you're trying to argue for fuller protections under constitutional and statutory provisions, you need judges who are willing to consider your arguments. I view being on the bench and why I'm serving now as: I spent nearly 15 years with my clients, yanking on the doors to the courthouse, demanding justice, demanding access. And now I have an opportunity to push open those courthouse doors, from the inside. It's a different role, but it can be equally as powerful in making sure that justice for all is something that's… an actuality. It's not just pretty words.
The importance of prioritizing judicial races every election cycle
The reason why I have been working so hard to raise attention on the importance of judicial elections is, in part: I need folks to understand that day-to-day issues get addressed best when we have every branch of government working for the people of North Carolina. The legislature, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. And to understand that we have different levels. So we have statewide officers, we've got local judges running too, and local county commissioners, school board members.
There's a part of talking about judicial elections that I think is about public education and civics. And there's an opportunity to help people understand where they have levers to exert their power, to have their voices heard. All politics aren't presidential politics. Understanding the ways in which your power at the ballot box can translate to meaningful differences for you, for your family, for your community – that's important to me.
We, as North Carolinians, we as judicial officers, public servants, haven't done a good job of educating the voters about what our courts do. And so I really appreciate the opportunity. I served on the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. But when I go out there, I talk to folks about the district court, the superior court, the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court; each one of those levels of courts has a different responsibility and works in a different way for this state.
Casting an informed, empowered vote requires understanding what you should expect of your judges and being able to compare: This is what these judges should be doing. And this is either what the incumbent – the elected official – or the candidate is doing or promises to do. Comparing those things are how we support North Carolinians in making informed decisions.
The courts also are making decisions that affect every day North Carolinians, in every single way possible. When I go to places like festivals or college campuses, not expressly political spaces, I ask people: What do they think about the courts? When I say courts, you say [what]? And, you know, a good chunk of folks will say, “Oh, that's where you get in trouble. I don't want to go there.” And that, to me, says that we've got a lot of work to do to tell people that courts aren't just places you go when you get in trouble. They're places where you might end up if your family is experiencing some turmoil. They are places you go if you've been injured and want relief, want to be made whole from that injury. They are places you go when you're fighting to make North Carolina the place that it can be – that progressive beacon in the South. That's where you can go to get that justice, to get that relief. And so we have to step back. We can't talk about the importance of judicial elections until people understand what our courts do. And then we can talk to folks about what having great, smart, progressive, intellectually-rigorous, open-minded judges on the bench actually means in terms of enforcing and interpreting the law.
Understanding the ways in which your power at the ballot box can translate to meaningful differences for you, for your family, for your community – that's important to me.
On how her values make her a better justice
I've found in my time campaigning … that I need to explain to people how judges can and should communicate with the public. I can't promise how to rule on a case, and I shouldn't – that would undermine the integrity of the courts. But that doesn’t mean I can’t say anything about my values. If I only tell people that I'm going to be fair and impartial, and I'm going to be a judge that you won't know what I'm thinking, then they don't get to know me – who I am, what I believe in. And they don't get to get excited about what I think the law stands for and how it can serve the people of this state. So when I go out and talk to folks, I say, “Look, I know democracy doesn't defend itself. I spent my entire private practice career working on, among other things, protecting the right to vote.” I’m talking about how I value about our democracy, not how I’ll rule on a case.
We all know what happened in the 2020 election. We were on the precipice of losing this democracy that we care so much about, and not in full, but I think people need to realize that it was the courts then that provided a backstop against that extremism, against the folks who would have rather overthrown our government than accept the will of voters. And so knowing that it takes judges willing to enforce the constitution and the law. That's something you should know about your judges or judicial candidates, something you should demand from them. So I talk about that. I talk about what it's been like to appreciate and understand how the laws have not always been construed in ways that make it easy and accessible for everyone to go and get that justice in a courtroom. There's some structural reforms needed in our judicial system. I wouldn't cast aspersions on the courts and the institution; I believe that these are important institutions. And they can be improved. And so talking about that value – about how you can be part of a system and still seek to change it and improve it.
I talk about my values around reproductive rights. I hope to start a family with my husband. We met a little bit later in life, but we still hope to start a family. And so that experience right now that I have gives me an understanding of the implications of any constitutional analysis – not only on other women and childbearing folks, but on myself. So these are some of the values that we need to talk about – that we need to be unafraid to talk about. It doesn't mean I'm promising how I'm going to vote. It means that I'm telling you what I believe in, what I stand for. And ultimately, that I'm going to commit to being a hard worker, intellectually honest, and be transparent in my opinions, in my decision making, so that North Carolinians understand how the law affects them and, if it changes, how and why.
Read parts 2, 3, and 4 of our conversation with Justice Riggs.