WS Chronicle

BY CASH MICHAELS 

FOR THE CHRONICLE

Thanks to a statement from outgoing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, it is now known that GOP legislative leaders were indeed planning to add two more seats to the North Carolina Supreme Court so that McCrory could appoint two more Republicans to offset Superior Court Judge Mike Morgan’s stunning 350,000-vote election win, giving Democrats the 4-3 majority.

On January 4th  the investiture of N.C. Associate Justice Michael Rivers Morgan will take place at 2 p.m. in the Law and Justice Building Courtroom at 2 East Morgan Street in Downtown Raleigh.

“I feel tremendously wonderful about it,” the new justice-elect, 60, said days after his triumph. “The voters of North Carolina have given me a resounding victory and are allowing me to serve the state at the highest level of the North Carolina Supreme Court. So I’m very pleased, very proud and very humbled at this opportunity.”

Justice Morgan will become the fifth African-American to serve on the state’s High Court in its history, following Chief Justice Henry Frye, and associate justices G. K. Butterfield, Patricia Timmons-Goodson, James Wynn Jr., and Cheri Beasley.

“We have been friends since my appointment [to the bench] in March of 2005,”  Orange County Superior Court Judge Carl Fox said of his colleague. “Mike is an experienced trial judge who has previously served on both the district and superior trial court benches for [over]25 years. “

“He is a fair, hard working and a conscientious judge with a wealth of experience. Mike has held court around our state. ..[and] he has also taught other judges through the N.C. Conference of Superior Court Judges and The National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada,.” Judge Fox added.

State Rep. Evelyn Terry [D-Forsyth] expressed the boundless pride that many in the African-American community have in Judge Morgan’s Supreme Court election, and tremendous faith in his ability to serve in the interest of all North Carolinians.

“It’s difficult for me to express verbally that it just means such a great deal to me, and certainly, I hope to the people I represent in District 71 …whose interests in equal justice are very keen.”

“So I’m just hopeful because of Judge Morgan’s qualifications, his character, his ability, his humanness…all of those things that characterize a fine legal mind,” Rep. Terry added.

“He’ll bring a breath of fresh air.”

A native of Cherry Point, N.C., Mike Morgan is the oldest of five children. He graduated from New Bern public schools. Morgan received his B.A. in both History and Sociology from Duke University in 1976. He earned his Juris Doctor degree with honors from North Carolina Central University in 1979. From 1983 to 1989, Morgan was an assistant state Attorney General in the N.C. Dept of Justice. From 1989 to 1994, he served as a NC administrative law judge; from 1994 to 2004 a district court judge; and from 2005 to the present a Wake County superior court judge.

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Dan Blue [D-Wake] said, “I am very encouraged to see Judge Mike Morgan join our state’s Supreme Court.

“His dedication to impartiality and respect for the law is unparalleled. It is crucial for us to have diversity on the bench, and Judge Morgan’s win is an important step to broader representation in the court that more accurately reflects North Carolinians.”

Sen. Blue concluded, “I have no doubt that he will bring the kind of balance that is needed to ensure that the judicial system is operating in accordance with the democratic process.”