As Republicans erode the rule of law, NC lawyers are now fighting back | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- GOP moves shifted judicial power, funding and oversight toward legislature.
- Bar groups largely stayed silent as courts lost funding and neutrality.
- Lawyers face political control threats as Legal Aid cuts spur self-representation.
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”
That line from William Shakespeare’s play Henry VI, Part II, is often cited as a jovial complaint about how lawyers sometimes impede progress with their arcane objections. But the context of the line points to a much different meaning.
The line is spoken by Dick the Butcher, a villain plotting a rebellion against the king. The Literary Hub website notes that Dick and his co-conspirator “know that they’ll be able to take over an ignorant population with greater ease than one where everyone understands their rights. One reading of this strange quote suggests, therefore, that society could not exist in a state of fairness and peace without the protectiveness of both the law and its staunch guardians.”
That meaning echoes in North Carolina today. Republican lawmakers, partisan judges and now U.S. Department of Justice officials aren’t seeking to wipe out all the lawyers, but they are counting on their silence. And for too long prominent lawyers, law school leaders and legal groups have offered little resistance as political forces have chipped away at the rule of law.
Consider some of the changes in the North Carolina legal system under Republican rule since 2011. Partisan labels have been restored to judicial elections and public funding for judicial elections has ended. The North Carolina State Bar has been stripped of its four appointments to the Judicial Standards Commission, which hears complaints against judges, and the appointments have been given to the legislature. Lawmakers have given themselves the power to appoint 10 new special Superior Court judges, whose work could include reviewing the legality of legislation. The legislature has suspended a key source of funding for Legal Aid of North Carolina, a nonprofit that is the state’s largest provider of representation for low-income people in civil cases.
Fortunately, some in the legal community have spoken out, notably former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr, former judge and state Rep. Marcia Morey, Duke Law Professor James Coleman and UNC Law professor Gene Nichol, a former UNC law dean and current contributing News & Observer columnist.
Now, more lawyers are starting to join them.
The State Bar is pushing back against a legislative effort to take over its process for disciplining lawyers, a shift that could protect misbehaving but politically connected lawyers. It is also opposed to a U.S. Justice Department proposal that would weaken the ability of state bars to discipline federal lawyers — including U.S. attorneys — who abuse the law or violate ethical standards. “The proposed rule is both legally infirm and contrary to public policy,” the bar said in a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The N.C. State Bar, a government agency that regulates the legal profession, wants the disciplinary process for state-level lawyers to remain free from political influence. It said in a statement, “An independent legal profession is an important force in preserving government under law, and self-regulation safeguards the legal profession’s independence to preserve and protect individual rights.”
Morey, a Durham Democrat, said the committee’s interference is the latest effort by the legislature to undermine the judicial system. “It’s been a death by a thousand cuts and this is the last big chomp,” she said.
“Many of the rank and file lawyers need to wake up.,” she added. “The State Bar cannot become a political pawn. Otherwise, we lose justice.”
State Sen. Lisa Grafstein, a Wake County Democrat and longtime civil rights attorney, said the State Bar “is in a tough spot. If you push back against the General Assembly, what’s the next thing that’s going to happen to you?”
But she is seeing a shift in lawyers’ understanding of the need to protect their profession. “We need a lot more of that sense of the public role of lawyers,” she said. “If you’re keeping your head down, you’re not going to fulfill that role.”
In Shakespeare’s play, Dick the Butcher’s rebellion against the rule of law failed and all the lawyers survived to protect it. May the same be said for North Carolina.
Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@newsobserver.com
This story was originally published April 8, 2026 at 7:42 AM.