Gov. Josh Stein on Monday said he vetoed a bill that would allow the chief justice of the state Supreme Court to suspend trial court judges without pay if they are under investigation.
Stein told The Assembly in a statement that he’s concerned the provision included in House Bill 377 could be used to unfairly target judges of opposing ideologies. Republican Paul Newby is currently the court’s chief justice.
“Judges should be able to do their jobs without fear that the Chief Justice may deprive them of their livelihood,” Stein said in a statement.
The bill passed largely along party lines this summer, with the additional backing of unaffiliated state Rep. Carla Cunningham of Mecklenburg County.
If Republicans in the state legislature all continue to support the bill and Cunningham again joins them, they can override the governor’s veto.
Lawmakers in both chambers have said they don’t anticipate holding any more votes until after the November election. The additional powers for Newby would take effect as soon as the bill becomes law.
Under current state law, anyone can lodge a complaint against a judge through the Judicial Standards Commission. Investigations and preliminary proceedings are kept confidential. If the commission finds enough evidence to initiate an investigation, a judge or justice can still be paid. If they are found to have violated standards, the commission can recommend punitive actions, like censuring or removing them.
Ahead of the vote, House Democratic Leader Robert Reives, an attorney, warned that changing that system would further a public perception of partisanship in the judiciary.
“When suspensions happen, everybody’s going to be looking sideways at a suspension,” Reives said on the House floor. “Everybody’s going to wonder: ‘Is this politically motivated?’ We are inviting people to question our judicial system even more.”
Republicans passed the bill with little discussion, but they argue it helps the court system ensure judges behave appropriately.
“All North Carolinians deserve judges who exercise sound judgment and uphold the highest standards of conduct,” House Speaker Destin Hall said in a statement after the bill’s passage. “When they don’t, or when their actions put law-abiding citizens in harm’s way, there should be meaningful consequences. This legislation gives our courts stronger tools to hold those judges accountable.”
The bill comes on the heels of a number of changes to the state court system that Democrats see as reducing public trust in what is supposed to be an apolitical entity.
In 2016, Republicans passed a law making statewide judicial contests partisan. In 2024, the GOP-controlled legislature eliminated the seats of Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins and Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Todd Burke, who had ruled against election law changes that GOP lawmakers had put forward. It also prevented the governor from filling Supreme Court and Court of Appeals vacancies as he saw fit. Instead, the nominee must be chosen from a list of three names supplied by the political party of the departing judge or justice.
On Monday, Stein is also expected to veto House Bill 958, a sweeping elections measure that shortens the early voting window in primaries from 17 days to 10 days and allows ballots cast during early voting to be challenged up to three days after the election.
At an event in Durham this month, Stein told reporters he’d veto the bill because it “is about making it harder for people to vote” and “creates opportunity for bad things to happen.”
The election bill passed along party lines, making it more difficult for Republicans to override the governor’s objections. While the GOP has veto-proof control of the Senate, it is one seat shy of a supermajority in the House.
