Michael Morgan, one of the last Democrats on NC Supreme Court, won’t seek reelection
North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Michael Morgan, one of only two Democrats left on the court, announced Thursday that he will not seek reelection in 2024.
“With the incredibly good fortune to be the only person ever in NC to serve in 4 different judgeships over my 34 years of judicial service, I shall not seek to be reelected in 2024 as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina,” Morgan wrote on Twitter.
Morgan, 67, spent most of his childhood in New Bern, where he became the first Black student to attend the all-white Trent Park Elementary School in 1964.
Throughout his career, Morgan has served as an administrative law judge, a Wake County District Court judge, a Superior Court judge and a justice of the state Supreme Court.
Morgan’s election to the Supreme Court in 2016 shifted the body to Democratic control. It maintained that majority until 2022, when two new Republican justices were elected, leaving the court with a 5-2 Republican majority.
Justices in North Carolina serve eight-year terms and may not serve past the age of 72. If Morgan had won in 2024, he would’ve had to step down three years later on his 72nd birthday.
But a provision in both the Senate and House budgets would raise the cutoff age for justices to 76, which would allow Republican Chief Justice Paul Newby, who is 68, to serve out the rest of his term.
No Democratic contenders have announced their plans to run for Morgan’s seat, but a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals did weigh in on Morgan’s retirement.
“Democratic appellate judicial candidates WILL sweep in 2024, just like in 2018,” Allison Riggs, who was appointed to the court in February by Gov. Roy Cooper, said on Twitter. “We will field fantastic candidates for every seat and talk to voters about taking back our courts for justice — and about our values! Take my word for it.”
Jefferson Griffin, another judge on the Court of Appeals, announced in April that he was seeking the Republican nomination for Morgan’s seat on the Supreme Court.
Given the term lengths of the other justices on the court, it could take several election cycles for Democrats to even be capable of regaining a majority if a Republican wins Morgan’s seat.
This story was originally published May 18, 2023 at 12:19 PM.
