Civil rights advocates defend a North Carolina court justice suing over a probe for speaking out

By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Civil rights advocates and Democratic state legislators are defending and praising a state Supreme Court justice for suing to block a state ethics panel from investigating her public comments that she says are protected by the First Amendment. They spoke on Wednesday at a Legislative Building news conference in support of Anita Earls, who is the only Black woman on the court. Earls filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission. A commission attorney told her earlier this month that a previous investigation was being reopened in light of a media interview in which she spoke on the Supreme Court’s record related to diversity.