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October 9th, 2023 Len’s Political Note #591 Allison Riggs North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice
2024 General Election
We do not pay enough attention to state Supreme Court elections. Last November, Ohio gave its Supreme Court a 4-3 Republican majority. This April, Wisconsin gave Democrats a 4-3 majority in its State Supreme Court.
As recently as 2019, North Carolina’s Supreme Court had a 6-1 majority. Now it has a 5-2 Republican majority. The turning point was Democratic Chief Justice Cheri Beasley’s 2020 loss of her seat by 401 votes. These races can be excruciatingly close.
Allison Riggs is next up in North Carolina. Born in New York, she grew up, the daughter of a University of West Virginia scientist. Winner of a Merit Scholarship when she graduated from high school, she chose the University of Florida, which gave additional scholarships to Merit winners. Allison Riggs recalled that the University had enrolled the second highest number of Merit Scholarship winners that year.
Allison Riggs graduated from Florida with a BA in microbiology in 2003. She might have become a scientist like her dad. She got a Master’s degree in history from Florida in 2006 and might have become an historian of science. With her dad, she wrote papers on how religion, magic, and science have seen epilepsy, on the contributions of Antoine Laviosier and others in understanding heat illness, and how the scientist John A Simpson understood the auto-immune disease myasthenia gravis through analogy.
Had she sustained her interest in science, Allison Riggs would probably have lived a life in the academy. As an undergraduate, she had become involved in a civil rights clinic. While getting her Master’s Degree, she considered the influence of that clinic and instead of studying microbiology or the history of science, she went to Florida’s law school. She completed her degree in 2009 and then headed for North Carolina.
Less focused on getting hired by a firm than most law school graduates, Allison Riggs went to North Carolina because she liked it. She saw it as a place with progressive traditions and a history of litigation about voting rights. She thought she could find interesting work and that interesting work found her.
In the fall of 2009, she was hired as a staff attorney by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. Founded in 2007 in Durham, North Carolina, the Southern Coalition was the perfect place for Allison Riggs. By 2018, she was a senior figure in this non-profit social justice entity that had fourteen attorneys and a half-dozen other professionals. She was in charge of voting rights work and, in 2020, became the organization’s co-director.
In January, 2023, when governor John Cooper appointed her to the North Carolina Appeals Court, he said:
“[Allison] Riggs’ voting rights work over the last nearly 15 years at SCSJ has been focused on fighting for fair redistricting plans, fighting against voter suppression, and advocating for electoral reforms that would expand access to voting. She has litigated redistricting cases on behalf of State NAACP Conferences in Texas, Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina. In 2018, she argued a Texas redistricting case in the U.S. Supreme Court, and in 2019, she argued a North Carolina partisan gerrymandering case in the same high court. Most recently, she worked as lead counsel on the Moore v. Harper case, which was heard earlier this month in the U.S. Supreme Court”.
The Brennan Center described the Allison Riggs’ victory in Moore v. Harper. “In a 6–3 decision in Moore vs. Harper, the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the independent state legislature theory, a radical theory that could have undermined voting rights and upended our elections. The ruling means that state courts can still freely enforce state constitutional rights and guarantees, as they have for hundreds of years. The case threatened to make state legislatures “independent” of the usual checks against abuse when they regulate federal elections. But common sense prevailed, and our system of checks and balances still stands. As Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote in the majority opinion, ‘The Elections Clause does not insulate state legislatures from the ordinary exercise of state judicial review.’ In other words, the independent state legislature theory is dead.”
In the fall of 2023, Governor John Cooper did it again. When Democratic Judge Michael Morgan, an African American, announced his retirement from the North Carolina Supreme Court, leaving it 5-1 Republican, Cooper named Allison Riggs to replace him. While the Governor appoints to fill a vacancy, the appointee must face the voters at the next election opportunity. Because her appointment is so close to November 7, 2023, that next opportunity will be the fall of 2024. If the people elect her, Democrats will retain a 5-2 minority. They will also have arguably as a jurist an attorney who had been the foremost practitioner of election law in the country.
If elected, Allison Riggs will not be alone on the Court. The other Democrat on the Supreme Court is Anita Earls. Earls grew up in the State of Washington. An adoptee, Earls father is black, her mother is white. Her parents left for Washington because, at the time, interracial marriage was illegal in Missouri. Anita Earls was the founder of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. She hired Allison Riggs. She promoted Allison Riggs from Staff Attorney to Senior Attorney.
Governor Cooper created a reunion of the two women. The 2024 election of Allison Riggs would make that a long-term reunion. Help make that happen. Donate to Allison Riggs election campaign.
Postscript – The North Carolina Governor Race
Michael Morgan does not intend to stay retired. He has announced his candidacy for governor. The North Carolina Attorney General, Josh Stein (Len’s Political Note #574) announced for the position months ago. He has been campaigning and raising money for the race. He began July with $8 million for the campaign. The probable Republican nominee for governor, the extremist Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, has been raising money and campaigning for months as well. He had $3 million as of July 1. Neither is likely to be defeated in the March 5, 2024 primary. Respect Michael Morgan’s candidacy, but donate in support of Josh Stein. He needs the resources to defeat Robinson in November 2024.
2023 For Pennsylvania State Supreme Court Justice:
Dan McCaffrey Pennsylvania, Currently an Appellate Judge. Len’s Political Note #571
Other 2023 Elections are coming soon. Help Democratic candidates now
Kentucky election day November 7, 2023
Mississippi election day November 7, 2023
Louisiana non-partisan primary October 14, 2023
Louisiana run off, top two November 18, 2023
Pennsylvania election day November 7, 2023
Virginia election day November 7, 2023
October 14 is less than a month away. November 7 is slightly more than a month away and November 18 is less than 2 months away. If you are going to do something about these elections, donate now.
Democrats for Governor:
Incumbent Andy Beshear Kentucky, Formerly, the Attorney General. Len’s Political Note #533
Shawn Wilson Louisiana, Formerly the State Secretary of Transportation. Len’s Political Note #549
Brandon Presley Mississippi, Formerly one of three elected public service commissioners. Len’s Political Note #535
For Attorney General
Colonel Pamela Stevenson Kentucky, former Senior Official in the Air Force Judge Advocate system and state rep Len’s Political Note #561
Greta Kemp Martin Mississippi, Litigation Director for Disability Rights Mississippi running against a Republican who truly deserves to be defeated. Len’s Political Note #563
For Treasurer
Dustin Granger Louisiana, Financial Advisor. Len’s Political Note #562
For Secretary of State
Buddy Wheatley Kentucky, Former Fire Chief and former state rep. Len’s Political Note #582
For a Democratic legislature than can stand up to a Republican governor.
Virginia House of Delegates: Kimberly Pope Adams, Jessica Anderson, Joshua Cole, Michael Feggans, Susanna Gibson, Joshua Thomas. See Len’s Political Note #573 of July 6, 2023
Virginia State Senate: Clint Jenkins, Monty Mason, Russet Perry, Danica Roem, Schuyler VanValkenburg. Len’s Political Note #573 of July 10, 2023
