NC Chief Justice Announces Retirement, Gov. Cooper to Fill Spot

By Tristan Dufresne 1/26/19 3:50PM

RALEIGH — Governor Roy Cooper will be handed the opportunity of reshaping North Carolina's highest court following Chief Justice Mark Martin's announcement on Friday, January 25 that he that he would be retiring as soon as February, before the completion of his term.

"I will forever cherish the memories of serving with so many amazing and capable people," said Martin in a written statement released to media. After taking a seat on the Supreme Court in 1999, and spending his last five years as chief justice, Martin's announcement said he has chosen to "direct my focus to helping prepare the next generation of leaders." In this pursuit, Martin has accepted employment as dean of the law school at Regent University, a private Christian research institute in Virginia.

Governor Cooper addressed Martin's decision on social media Friday afternoon, posting on his official Facebook account, "I appreciate Chief Justice Mark Martin's service to the state and the judiciary and his efforts to strengthen our court system."

"Leading the state's highest court and its court system is a critically important job," the governor's statement continued. "I will carefully consider his replacement in the coming days."

For well over a century, associate justice positions on the N.C. Supreme Court have been elected to eight-year terms by popular vote. In 2002, the state passed a law stripping partisan labels from all judicial election ballots. However, the General Assembly replaced the law in 2016 to restore the labels. Of the seven current Supreme Court justices, only two are registered Republicans, and Martin is one of them. Governor Cooper is not obligated to fill the vacancy from the ranks of the GOP and therefore there may be only a single conservative serving on the N.C. Supreme Court.

State Republicans commanded a 4-3 majority on the court until the 2016 general election when Democrat Mike Morgan defeated incumbent Bob Edmunds. Democrat Anita Earles then won her seat from Republican Barbara Jackson during the 2018 midterms.

Martin was nothing if not precocious in his early days on the bench. At the age of 29, he was the youngest judge to serve on the state Superior Court since the late 18th century. Two years later, he became the youngest person in history to take an N.C. Court of Appeals position.

Winning a state supreme court seat in 1998 at the age of 35 not only broke another record for relative youth, but gave Martin time to develop his thoughtful approaches to complex civil and criminal disputes.

Martin's opinion in the 2001 Bacon v. Lee case ruled that any governor who once served as attorney general cannot be prevented from considering the clemency petitions filed by death row inmates.

In 2017, Martin supported efforts to phase out the statewide practice of charging juvenile offenders as adults; his public endorsement of the "Raise the Age" Bill was instrumental in building the bipartisan coalition which prevailed in its passage.

Martin was selected in 2011 to join the prestigious Warren E. Burger Society, an organization whose membership is limited to those "who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to improving the administration of justice through extraordinary contributions of service," according to the National Center for State Courts website.