Anita Earls facts for kids

Anita Earls (born February 20, 1960) is an American lawyer who works to protect people's civil rights. Since 2019, she has been a judge on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Before becoming a judge, she led an organization called the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. She also worked for the United States Department of Justice during the time Bill Clinton was president. In 2018, Anita Earls won an election to become a judge on North Carolina's highest court.

Early Life and School

Anita Earls grew up in Seattle, Washington. Her parents moved there because a law in Missouri did not allow people of different races to marry. Anita and her brother were both adopted.

Earls went to Williams College where she studied how politics and money work together, and also philosophy. After college, she received a special scholarship to study in Tanzania. She later returned to the United States and went to Yale Law School.

Her Work as a Lawyer

After finishing law school in 1988, Anita Earls started working as a lawyer. She focused on cases that protected people's civil rights.

In 1998, President Bill Clinton chose her to work for the U.S. Department of Justice. There, she helped make sure everyone's civil rights were protected.

Later, she led a project about voting rights. In 2007, she started her own group called the Southern Coalition For Social Justice (SCSJ) in Durham, North Carolina. This group is a nonprofit, which means it works to help people rather than make money. She was the first leader of SCSJ. She left in 2017 to run for a judge position.

While at SCSJ, Earls worked on important voting rights cases. One big case was North Carolina v. Covington. In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that some voting districts in North Carolina were drawn unfairly. This unfair drawing of districts is called gerrymandering. Because of this case, the districts were redrawn. This helped more Democrats get elected in 2018.

Anita Earls has also taught at different universities. These include Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Maryland.

Her Work as a Judge

Since becoming a judge on the North Carolina Supreme Court, Anita Earls has written many important decisions. These decisions cover topics like privacy rights and free speech.

In 2020, the Governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, asked Earls to help lead a special group. This group was called the Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice. It was formed after the death of George Floyd. The group works to make the justice system fairer for everyone. They have suggested ideas like banning certain police holds and collecting more information about race in police reports.

The Washington Post newspaper reported that Anita Earls was considered for a job on the United States Supreme Court. This was when Justice Stephen Breyer retired. However, President Biden chose Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for that position.

In 2023, Justice Earls filed a lawsuit. She said that a commission was investigating her. She felt this investigation was stopping her from speaking out about important issues. She had talked about how there might not be enough diversity in the state's courts. She also mentioned that not many Black law clerks were being hired. She plans to run for re-election in 2026.

Electoral history

Personal Life

Anita Earls is married to Charles D. Walton. He is from Raleigh, North Carolina. She has two children and one grandchild.

See also

• Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates
• List of African-American jurists