Associate Justice
Supreme Court
Democrat
Started: January 2019
From: Seattle, WA
65 Years Old
School: J.D., Yale Law School
Pre-Judicial Career
Founder and Executive Director, Southern Coalition for Social Justice (2007–2018); Director of Advocacy, UNC Center for Civil Rights; Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice (Clinton administration); civil rights litigator in voting rights, redistricting, and environmental justice cases.
On Redistricting
Earls dissented from the 2023 reversal of anti-gerrymandering rulings, writing that the reversal was “a process driven by partisan influence and greed for power” and that “unchecked partisan gerrymandering allows the controlling party of the General Assembly to draw legislative redistricting plans in a way that dilutes the voting power of voters in the disfavored party… This is not how democracy should function.”
(Source: Harper v. Hall dissent, NC Supreme Court (2023))
On Voting & Democracy
Earls wrote the original majority opinion (later overturned) in Holmes v. Moore (Dec. 2022) striking down NC’s voter ID law as racially discriminatory. On the 2023 rehearing, she called the procedural maneuver a “power grab” and noted that “since January 1993, a total of 214 petitions for rehearing have been filed, but rehearing has been allowed in only two cases.” She has also dissented in election-administration cases including the Griffin v. State Board of Elections challenge (2025).
(Source: Holmes v. Moore (N.C. 2022); Holmes v. Moore dissent on rehearing (2023); Griffin v. State Board of Elections dissent (2025))
On Criminal Justice
Earls has consistently dissented in cases narrowing criminal defendants’ rights and joined majorities in cases like State v. Grady (2019) finding lifetime satellite monitoring of certain sex offenders unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment.
(Source: State v. Grady, 372 N.C. 509 (2019); various criminal dissents 2019–present)
On Environmental Justice
Earls stated in her own words: “I returned to North Carolina in 2003 to serve as Director of Advocacy at the UNC Center for Civil Rights, where I represented predominantly African-American communities in voting rights and environmental justice matters.” At Southern Coalition for Social Justice, she has said “voting rights, youth justice, and environmental justice also are focus areas.”
(Source: Earls professional biography; Southern Coalition for Social Justice public statements)
On Civil Liberties
Justice Earls wrote for the majority in State v. Grady (2019), holding that lifetime satellite-based monitoring based only on recidivist status, without an individualized assessment of risk, is an unconstitutional search under the Fourth Amendment.
(Source: State v. Grady, 372 N.C. 509 (2019))
On Education Access
On the Leandro school funding case, Earls dissented when the court agreed to rehear it, writing: “If our court cannot or will not enforce state constitutional rights, those rights do not exist.” She noted that “there were at-risk students failing to achieve a sound basic education statewide” and argued courts have jurisdiction to order statewide remedies for statewide constitutional violations. She also dissented from the 2026 Newby majority dismissing the case.
(Source: Hoke County Bd. of Educ. v. State, Earls dissent (N.C. 2026); prior Leandro dissents 2023–2024)
On LGBTQ Rights
Earls is listed among Equality North Carolina’s “Electeds for Equality” — elected officials who publicly align themselves with the LGBTQ equality movement. She received Equality North Carolina’s “Jamie Kirk Hahn Ally” Award in 2018.
(Source: Equality North Carolina public list and award materials (2018))
On Reproductive Justice
No specific NC Supreme Court rulings or direct quotes found on reproductive justice. The NC Democratic Party highlights her as essential for protecting “reproductive freedom” and “abortion access.”
(Source: NC Democratic Party campaign communications)
[Source: campaign/party material — verify independently]
On Labor & Economic Justice
Before joining the court, Earls’s biographical materials describe her as fighting “to protect voting rights, challenged school segregation, defended workers experiencing discrimination, and advanced policies that directly impact students, educators, and working families across North Carolina.”
(Source: Earls biographical/campaign materials and SCSJ public statements)
