海角大神

Buncombe County Chief District Judge Calvin Hill has practiced law in Asheville, N.C., for 25 years, rising from one of the city鈥檚 first black public defenders to a court appointment to winning three elections unopposed. He was elected to the county鈥檚 top judicial job in 2010.

But next year, when he鈥檚 up for reelection, the people of Asheville won鈥檛 be voting on whether Judge Hill keeps his job.

The lone African-American judge in the liberal mountain city, Hill will have to run in a newly drawn district composed largely of white rural and suburban Republicans, including many of the 55,000 locals who voted for President Trump last November.

鈥淎s an African-American who is now in the primarily Republican area, I don鈥檛 know how racial gerrymandering as it is applied to me 鈥� I don鈥檛 know how that鈥檚 not clear,鈥� Hill says in a Monitor interview, noting that Gaston County, a similarly sized conservative enclave, was not touched. 鈥淔rom every angle, it feels like constitutional overreach.鈥�

The new district is part of a broader effort by the part of state Republicans to redraw the state鈥檚 judiciary. GOP lawmakers say it鈥檚 a necessary step to recalibrate after a massive influx of people to the state's cities. Democrats, including Gov. Roy Cooper, call it an effort to 鈥渞ig the system鈥� 鈥� and point to the fact that the changes come after the legislature suffered a series of defeats in court, including a voter ID law that was declared unconstitutional.

In October, GOP lawmakers overrode Governor Cooper鈥檚 veto of a bill that eliminated judicial primaries in 2018. Other controversial steps include: reducing the size of the state Court of Appeals, preventing Cooper from appointing replacements to retiring Republican judges; forcing all state judges to identify party affiliation on ballots 鈥� becoming the first state in about a century to do so; and the new district boundaries, which in some cases force incumbent African-American judges to run against one another.

For Hill鈥檚 part, the legislature鈥檚 efforts to 鈥渄ouble-bunk鈥� some black judges to make them compete for the same seat smacks of cultural retrenchment 鈥� if not outright racial discrimination. Legal experts are concerned about the respect for rule of law. If this partisan turn is successful, they say, other states with rapidly changing demographics might turn to North Carolina鈥檚 model as a means for one party to hold on to power.

鈥淚 do think this transition [to partisan elections] will have impact and will entrench influence and will change the character of the North Carolina judiciary,鈥� adds University of Illinois law professor Michael LeRoy.鈥� 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a model for others to adopt 鈥� and it鈥檚 worrisome.鈥�

鈥淪ometimes [state houses] legislate really troubling laws ... that play to extremely skewed interests. And it often implicates core individual rights or liberties and often plays on prejudice. That鈥檚 where the role of the state court system is extremely important,鈥� says Mr. LeRoy, author of 鈥淥pen for Business: Illinois Courts and Party Politics.鈥�

After North Carolina voters placed Republicans in power in 2010, lawmakers began redrawing the political landscape, turning the Old North State into Exhibit A for a national rise of hyper-partisanship and political payback.

North Carolina Republicans have characterized their sometime hardball tactics as tit-for-tat for when Democrats were in power. But the US Supreme Court ruled this year that the legislature created illegal racial gerrymanders when drawing election maps in 2011. And the high court sustained a lower-court ruling that the state鈥檚 2013 voter ID law discriminated against black voters 鈥渨ith almost surgical precision.鈥�

Legal experts such as LeRoy say the courts in North Carolina have simply served their constitutional purpose as 鈥渁 brake on runaway legislatures.鈥�

'We all stand for justice'

For at least one former North Carolina district court judge, the addition of partisan labels and the creation of racially-tinged judicial districts proves that the state is taking a 鈥渟tep in a bad direction.鈥�

When Rep. Marcia Morey spoke to 270 district judges at a conference in October, it became clear to her that the reforms were not originating among sitting judges from either party.

鈥淚 got a standing ovation for saying that I didn鈥檛 know who in the room was Republican or Democrat, but that we all stand for justice,鈥� says Representative Morey, a Democrat who served as a Durham County chief district judge for 16 years. 鈥淏ut even that reaction makes me worry that North Carolina has become the petri dish for the rest of the country: 鈥楲et鈥檚 throw it on the wall and see if it sticks and, if it does, let鈥檚 expand these concepts to other states.鈥� 鈥�

To be sure, a handful of states still hang onto traditions of noting partisan affiliation on the ballot, though mostly for higher courts. But North Carolina is the first state since 1921 to add partisan labels to ballots, all the way down to the lowest courts.

Courtrooms as political battlefields

Critics see it as an invitation to outside money and influence, turning courts into political battlefields where robes are no longer black, but blue and red.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just politics gone crazy, really,鈥� says Hill. 鈥淚t makes it look like [the legislature has] got something in for the courts, because they have not been getting favorable rulings in the courts.鈥�

At the same time, Democrats and Republicans agree that North Carolina鈥檚 court system, long a national model for how to administer justice uniformly across geography, needs reform.

Given the state鈥檚 massive population growth, especially in its cities, the state鈥檚 largest courthouse, in Charlotte, now represents a district 16 times as populous as the smallest district. In terms of resources and capacity, that means justice has become, in some respects, increasingly unequal, says Michael Crowell, a Carrboro lawyer.

Separation or 'sharing' of powers?

Republicans, too, may be right to say that the decision by a Democrat-controlled legislature to scrap political labels 15 years ago made it harder for Republican lawyers to win judgeships in liberal enclaves like Asheville.

Ohio Northern University law professor Scott Gerber, author of 鈥淎 Distinct Judicial Power,鈥澛爊otes that, in the 1780s, North Carolina became one of the first states to constitutionally enshrine John Adams鈥檚 鈥淭houghts on Government鈥� idea of independent judicial review. But Adams also noted that not only should the judiciary be a 鈥渃heck upon both鈥� of the other branches, but also that 鈥渂oth should be checks upon that.鈥�

鈥淭he work of the three branches overlaps considerably 鈥� it always has 鈥� and when you talk about separation of powers it鈥檚 really more sharing of powers,鈥� says Mr. Crowell, who sat on a state court reform commission in the 1990s. But the GOP鈥檚 focus on court reform, he adds, 鈥渟eems to be driven not by any effort to improve the courts but more of an effort to rein them in.鈥�

'Shoe now ... on the other foot'

In part, after decades of what they have seen as court-packing by Democrats, the building resistance to party labels and redistricting is simply a result of 鈥渢he shoe now being on the other foot,鈥� says Carl Mumpower, who for years served as the lone conservative on the seven-member Asheville City Council. 鈥淭his is an effort to right the balance, if you will, and to create an opportunity for fair representation.鈥�

From the Republican point of view, he says, it is the courts, not legislatures, which need to be humbled. While courts concern themselves about discrimination and equal access, he argues, more fundamental ideals around citizenship, the immorality of intoxicants, and traditional gender roles are being lost.

Mr. Mumpower, however, adds that he does not view Hill as a judicial activist.

鈥淚 think a majority of Americans see Republicans as more attuned to our constitutional compass than they do Democrats,鈥� says Mumpower, now the chair of the Buncombe County GOP. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have a compass, you get lost.鈥�

In that way, he adds, 鈥淚鈥檓 proud of the Republican Party for no longer pretending that the other side is sincere in their agenda. Their agenda is power and there鈥檚 no better example of that than Asheville, North Carolina.鈥�

'A dot of blue ... in a sea of red'

Asheville is a mountaintop Berkeley, in some ways, rife with brewpubs and tourism, where most restaurants, like the famous Buxton Hall BBQ, sport 鈥済ender-neutral鈥� bathrooms. It鈥檚 where bumper stickers suggest: 鈥淚t is OK to have too much fun.鈥� All the district court judges are Democrats. So are all the city councilors.

In its loud opposition to Raleigh鈥檚 rightward swing, Asheville has become a political punching bag.

鈥淲e鈥檙e basically a dot of blue in a sea of red 鈥� and that鈥檚 how it feels,鈥� says Asheville blacksmith Zack Noble.

For his part, Hill says, 鈥淚鈥檓 not worried about my race鈥� next year. 鈥淭his鈥檒l be my third election cycle,鈥� says the judge, who fresh out of law school interned with the late Buddy Malone, a pioneering black lawyer who defended one of the activists arrested in the Greensboro Sit-In.

鈥淚鈥檝e never been challenged,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檝e had a lot of Republican support ever since I became a judge, and the reason why is people in this county know who I am, they know my position on most things, they have watched me as a lawyer and a judge, and none of them are going to say that I go Democrat or Republican in my rulings; they cannot.

鈥淭he other reason I鈥檓 not worried is I鈥檝e still got a law license,鈥� Hill adds. 鈥淚 can always go to work as a lawyer.鈥�

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of Gaston County.