Judicial accountability proposal vetoed
(The Center Square) – Proposed judicial accountability, in the form of public reprimand, censure, suspension or the removal of trial judges from office for misconduct, was vetoed by first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein on Monday.
(The Center Square) – Proposed judicial accountability, in the form of public reprimand, censure, suspension or the removal of trial judges from office for misconduct, was vetoed by first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein on Monday.
The bill would permit the state’s chief justice of the Supreme Court to suspend without pay, pending investigations, judges from District Court or Superior Court with the recommendation of the state’s Judicial Standards Commission. The proposal, 2026 Court Changes (House Bill 377, Senate Bill 309), was in its 10th and final day at the desk of the governor.
Stein, in his message on why he issued the veto, said no other chief justice in the country has such authority and removal of judges “should first and foremost be determined by the people.”
“For 13 years, the General Assembly has repeatedly played politics with the judiciary, including taking all four of the nonpartisan State Bar’s appointments to the Judicial Standards Commission for itself,” Stein said. “It needs to stop politicizing our courts. An independent judiciary is critical to protecting the rule of law and the rights of all North Carolinians. I will always stand up for the people of North Carolina.”
Rep. Brenden Jones, R-Columbus, responded to the governor’s message on social media writing, “Translation: Josh Stein is against judicial accountability which allows dangerous criminals back on the street.”
In a release when the bill was presented to the governor, House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said, “All North Carolinians deserve judges who exercise sound judgment and uphold the highest standards of conduct. 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.”
In the embattled judicial jurisdiction of Charlotte, the nation’s 14th largest city, 29-year-old David Simpson bonded out of jail in July only 90 minutes before a fatal shooting in which he’s accused of first-degree murder. He’s accused of shooting a second person that survived.
Police say the dispute was over a parking space at an apartment complex at 1:45 a.m. He had bonded out, for $10,000, at 12:20 a.m. Simpson had been in jail facing a charge of a prisoner having a weapon.
In 2015, Simpson pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in a reduction from a first-degree murder charge in a 2013 fatal shooting. Many charges against him since release from prison on parole in 2020 include possession of a firearm by a felon.
A Mecklenburg County judge ordered him held without bond.
Passage of the bill was 62-45 in the House of Representatives and 26-11 in the Senate about 13 hours before Simpson left jail. In the Senate, no Democrats were for the measure and no Republicans against. In the House, no Democrats were for the measure, no Republicans against, and unaffiliated Rep. Carla Cunningham of Mecklenburg County was an aye vote.
