WS Chronicle

North Carolina Supreme Court Judge Mark A. Davis will be able to add published author to his list of accomplishments next month when his book, “A Warren Court of Our Own: The Exum Court and the Expansion of Individual Rights in North Carolina,” is officially available for purchase. 

“I never thought I would write one,” Davis laughed during an interview with The Chronicle earlier this week. 

Scheduled to be released Oct. 21, “A Warren Court of Our Own: The Exum Court and the Expansion of Individual Rights in North Carolina” takes a close look at the N.C. Supreme Court between 1986 and 1995 when James Exum served as Chief Justice. According to Davis, that was a very progressive time for the N.C. Supreme Court where a lot of landmark decisions were made that are still used to decide cases today. Davis, who is a native of Jefferson, N.C., said one day while working in the court of appeals, he noticed that cases from that era continued to be cited.

“I noticed one day in our briefs that get submitted to our court, we were frequently getting cited to cases from this era and it just got me interested in examining why that was the case,” Davis continued. “I finally realized that was because this was a unique era in the history of the North Carolina Supreme Court. There were a lot of landmark decisions that really expanded individual rights in North Carolina.” 

The writing process began a few years later while Davis was finishing up the master’s in Judicial Studies Program at Duke University. He said he started writing a thesis on the topic and gathered so much information he decided to take his thesis a step further and write a book. 

“It just kept getting longer and longer and I finally realized that it might make sense to try to turn it into a book,” Davis said. “And I got lucky – Carolina Academic Press expressed interest in publishing it and one thing led to another.”

When asked what he learned from his research, Davis said he looks at that court as the Mount Rushmore of the N.C. Supreme Court. Davis said it was extremely gratifying to talk with some of the people who served during that time period, including former Chief Justice James Exum. During his research, Davis said he spoke with more than 60 different people who worked in the court system. He said, “Of the nine judges that served, they’re all legends in North Carolina law. They will live on for decades and decades to come. 

“It was a point in time where the court was populated by extremely brilliant judges who just did an amazing job writing landmark opinions that really had a profound effect on people today.”

While discussing his own appointment to the N.C. Supreme Court and the current state of the justice system when compared to the time period covered in his book, Davis said in the late ‘80s and mid-‘90s N.C. was transforming and as a result, a lot of new issues were being brought to the court that had never been brought before and the judges at that time were working with a “blank slate.” 

“Today we’re still faced with important legal issues, but I don’t think we’re working with as quite of a blank slate as the court during that era,” Davis said. 

Davis was appointed to the N.C. Supreme Court by Governor Roy Cooper earlier this year to fill the vacancy left by Cheri Beasley, who now serves as chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court. Before his appointment, Davis served as a judge for the N.C. Court of Appeals. He has also served as special deputy attorney general and general counsel for former Governor Bev Purdue. He is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill and attended law school at Duke University.

“A Warren Court of Our Own: The Exum Court and the Expansion of Individual Rights in North Carolina” will officially be available for purchase on Monday, Oct. 21. For more information or to purchase the book, visit https://cap-press.com/. The book can also be purchased on Amazon.