ENEVA, Feb. 6 – A United Nations (UN) human rights expert said on Monday that the United States must protect judges’ freedom of expression, particularly on important issues threatening judicial independence or affecting the administration of justice.
Margaret Satterthwaite, a UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, voiced deep concerns that Anita Earls, a Supreme Court justice in North Carolina, was investigated for drawing attention to the potential role that implicit biases based on race, gender and political affiliation can play in the Court’s decision-making.
“Like other citizens, judges are entitled to freedom of expression, provided they conduct themselves in a way that preserves the dignity of their office, and the impartiality and independence of the judiciary,” the expert said in a statement.
“Judges should not face disciplinary investigations for speaking out on issues of vital public interest in a democratic society,” she noted.
In an interview in June 2023, Justice Earls, the only African American woman justice on North Carolina’s Supreme Court, spoke out on the lack of racial and gender diversity among advocates arguing before the Court, the lack of racial diversity among judges’ clerks, and the impact of implicit bias on the justices’ treatment of advocates who are women or people of color.
She described being interrupted and receiving different treatment from her colleagues on the bench during public oral arguments, saying this might be on account of her race, gender or political views.
The state’s Judicial Standards Commission has investigated Justice Earls, alleging that a judge should not publicly allege that another judge is making decisions based on an improper motivation “without some quantum of definitive proof.”
Satterthwaite said in the statement that she had seen evidence that other North Carolina Supreme Court justices have publicly accused their colleagues of partisan conduct, but were not investigated by the Commission.
“By singling out the speech of the only African American woman on North Carolina’s Supreme Court, the Commission’s actions raise the question of discrimination on the basis of race and gender,” she said.
