Judge Morgan vies for high
court seat in November
Morgan
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
After over 26 years on
the North Carolina bench.
Wake Superior Court Judge
Michael Morgan believes
he now has the length and
breath of experience to
serve on the state Supreme
Court.
"Certainly I'm better
qualified than the incum
bent who currently holds
the seat," Morgan said dur
ing a recent phone inter
view.
Apparently a lot of
North Carolina voters
agree with Judge Morgan.
He was the second most
popular vote-getter out of
four during the June 7 spe
cial primary behind incum
bent N.C. Senior Associate
Justice Robert H. Edmunds
Jr., thus securing a
November battle.
But unseating Justice
Edmunds this fall will be a
tall order, especially given
that the veteran jurist has
the endorsement, of several
former Supreme Court jus
tices, just about every sher
iff in the state, Gov. Pat
McCrory, and the N.C.
Republican Party. In addi
tion, the Republican-led
N.C. General Assembly
passed a retention law last
year so that Edmunds
wouldn't originally have to
face re-election. A subse
quent Wake Superior Court
panel ruled the retention
law unconstitutional; how
ever, the state Supreme
Court (minus Edmunds)
heard arguments in April
for a final decision.
Until they rule,
Edmunds must run. If the
justices split evenly, then
the Wake judicial panel's
ruling stands, and the reten
tion law fails.
So Morgan and
Edmunds will now face off
for Edmunds' seat during
the Nov. 8 general election.
Turnout will most likely
not be an issue since there
is also a divisive presiden
tial election on the ballot,
as well as races for North
Carolina governor and the
U.S. Senate, congressional
and legislative races.
Nov. 8 promises to
deliver plenty of voters to
the polls. The problem
could be that by the time
voters go through all of the
candidates in the high pro
file contests, they may not
turn over their ballots to
see the important High
Court race on the other
side.
That means Judge
Morgap, a registered
Democrat, has a lot of work
to do across the state to get
his name, face and history
in front of voters. Judicial
candidates aren't afforded
the luxuries of partisan
politicians for elective
office. Their allegiance is
supposed to be to uphold
ing the law, not to a party
or special money interest.
Additionally, it is diffi
cult for African-American
candidates for statewide
office like Morgan to win
in North Carolina. N.C.
Associate Justice Cheri
Beasley barely won her
seat in 2014, and Linda
Coleman lost by a whisker
when she first ran for
Lieutenant Governor in
2012.
That's why Judge
Morgan is hopeful that his
almost three decades on the
bench at various levels of
state jurisprudence - longer
than Justice Edmunds - will
prove to the voters in
November that he is wor
thy of their consideration.
State administrative law
judge for five years; district
court judge for ten years;
and his current position of
superior court judge for
eleven years.
"Add to that that my
opponent, while he has
been a Supreme Court jus
tice, and is currently in that
seat, has never been a trial
judge," says Judge
Morgan. "Supreme Court
justices review the courts'
records that are generated
in the lower courts. They
are a reviewing court to see
what errors have been com
mitted potentially in the
courts below."
A review of Justice
Edmunds' record confirms
that while he has been a
state and federal litigator,
in addition to serving on
the state Court of Appeals
and Supreme Court for six
teen years, he has never
been a trial judge.
If Morgan wins in
November, he will be one
of two African-Americans
serving on the seven-mem
ber N.C. Supreme Court,
but the only black male.
And while Morgan is sensi
tive to the importance and
appearance of an African
American male serving on
the state's highest court, he
says it's even more impor
tant that people look past
his color and see a better
qualified, fair candidate.
The stakes are high in
the Morgan - Edmunds
race, because the winner
decides the ideological bal
ance of power on the 4-3
conservative state High
Court.
A native of Cherry
Point, 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 hi$ 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.
Department of Justice.
From 1989 to 1994, he
served as a N.C. adminis
trative law judge; from
1994 to 2004 a district
court judge; and from 2005
to the present a Wake
County superior court
judge.
"I love what I do,"
Judge Morgan says. "I feel
that after this length of
service, I'm due for a pro
motion and ready for
greater service. I hope that
the people of North
Carolina agree that I am
ready."
Hillary Clinton: Up Close
Editor's note:
Democratic Presidential
Candidate Hillary Clinton
visited Charlotte with
President . Obama on
Tuesday. The Chronicle
gives a glimpse of the can
didate via The Chicago
Defender. She sat with The
Chicago Defender, a mem
ber of the National
Newspapers Publishers'
Association, to discuss her
vision for a better
America. The full story can
be found at
http:Hchicagodefender.com
120161061301Hillary-up
close/.
BYKAI EL' ZABAR, NNPA7
THE CHICAGO DEFENDER
Hillary Clinton came to
Chicago on her Midwest
campaign jaunt to address
the Women's International
Luncheon at the Rainbow
PUSH Coalition's 45th
annual convention.
Afterward, The
Chicago Defender got up
close and personal with the
presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee to get
greater insight into her
vision for a better America.
"I have an old-fash
ioned belief that if you run
for president, you should
tell people what you're
going to do," Clinton said
as she revved up. "Listen,
the next president of the
United States can have the
opportunity to select one,
two, three Supreme Court
justices ... and we don't
want that president to be
Donald Trump."
Backstage at the lunch
eon, Clinton said that she
has a personal commitment
to working with The Black
Press and all local press;
however, she has noticed in
particular the assumption
of some in various parts of
the country where she has
traveled that it is assumed
that The Black Press will
show up.
"And that's not always
the case, so we want to
make sure that we make the
effort to reach out, and not
only during the campaign,
but even in the White
House," Clinton said. "I see
The Black Press playing an
active role in getting our
message out directly to its
readers, participating in the
various activities such as
today's luncheon, and mak
ing sure that it has access as
well as being included in
the advertising buy."
Clinton has made it
clear that she will continue
the initiatives that
President Barack Obama
implemented and work to
enhance affordable health
care. She credits the presi
dent with saving America
*
?
from another depression,
having inherited the worst
financial crisis in American
history since the Great
Depression. And he's done
so much more that he is not
given credit for, she said,
and she plans to continue
support of those efforts of
great concern.
When asked about the
underserved communities
(black, brown, LBGT, etc.),
Clinton said she has plans
to address the issues that
pertain to each, and one can
actually go to her website
and read exactly what her
vision is. However, she
provided insight and began,
"First of all, we need more
good jobs with rising
incomes, because we're just
not seeing enough of them.
There aren't enough
employment opportunities
in Chicago's underserved
communities."
It's clear that Clinton
recognizes the disparities
that plague the marginal
ized.
"We need to make sure
that there are some big,
bold programs like infra
structure, like clean renew
able energy, like advanced
manufacturing, that are
within the reach of those
people who need those jobs
and have to be given the
chance to compete for
them," she said, noting in
the past 10 to 15 years, a lot
of the jobs in the country
are not within reach of
those who live in the most
distressed urban or rural
areas.
So Hillary Clinton says
she wants to make jobs
available first. Second,
education. She is adamant
that young children be bet
ter prepared to go to school
and supported throughout
so they will be successful.
"Tliere are a lot of ways
we can do that. I am com
mitted to working with
communities, churches and
educational systems to try
to figure out how." But it's
clear that she gets the com
prehension thread that
makes it all work.
"But parents and grand
parents have to be support
ed in doing the most impor
tant job of raising the next
generation of children, and
we need to do all that we
can to see to it that we do
that," she said.
Clinton spoke to her
vision to re-create "schools
that people believe in, that
they are passionate about,
and we have that in a lot of
places and I know that you
don't have that in Chicago."
"We need diversionary
programs so that we're not
suspending and expelling
5-, 6-, 7- and 8-year-old
kids who are ac^rg out,"
she said. "We have a terri
ble disciplinary divide
where kids who are either
having problems or are just
acting like normal kids
being suspended if they're
African-American or
Latino and white kids
doing the same thing
aren't."
She paused and contin
ued, "That starts the whole
cradle-to-prison pipeline."
In her effort to end the
cradle-to-prison pipeline,
Clinton envisions doing
more to intervene in help
ing the little kids be suc
cessful, which would
include after school sup
port intervention programs.
For the older youth, she
recognizes that there is no
place for teenagers to direct
their energies and how easy
it is for them to be misdi
rected, often leading to
gang affiliation or some
other form of violence of
destructive behavior.
"There are no organ
ized activities," Clinton
said. "There's nothing that
breaks the attraction of a
gang, where their thinking
is 'at least I'm on a team' if
they're in a gang, as
opposed to having options
to choose from like being
on a team (sports, academ
ics, etc.) that may advance
their life rather than end
their life."
She then segued to
comment on Chicago: "I
am really confused as to
why Chicago has so much
more violence year after
year. And we have to factor
that into federal programs.
Congressman Jim Clyburn
of South Carolina has an
excellent program that he
calls 10, 20, 30, where 10
percent of federal money
would go to 20 percent of
the communities that have
had 30 years of poverty.
We have to focus on these
places and it can't be one
size fits all. What may
work in Chicago may not
necessarily work in Miami
or New Orleans."
Regarding the gun-con
trol issue and the associat
ed violence, Clinton speaks
passionately: "It's a civil
rights issue and I will do
everything I can: legisla
tion, regulation, litigation
because I think we have
veered off the track. We are
intimidated by, controlled
by and directed by the gun
lobby in Washington.
Members of Congress are
scared to death, governors
and state legislatures are
scared to death, and why?
Because the gun lobby rep
resents a dedicated focused
group of voters. And they
will make anybody who
doesn't vote with them pay
the price."
However, she noted
that yet the vast majority of
people want these changes,
so we've got to start acting
like they are a voting issue
to us.
She also pointed out
that she promised the par
ents who have lost children
to gun violence that, "I will
do everything I can to
change the gun laws. I will
work continuously to do
so."
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