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Ed Eldred is a Democrat running for a seat on the NC Court of Appeals. As an appellate lawyer, Eldred has handled hundreds of appeals, is a board-certified specialist in child welfare law, and often represents parents in DSS court.

Democrats currently hold 4 of the 15 seats on the NC Court of Appeals. This year, three seats are on the ballot. We spoke to Eldred about his judicial philosophy and what he wished reporters would ask him.

What does the North Carolina Court of Appeals do?

The Court of Appeals corrects legal errors made in trial courts. Are your readers still reading or did I put them to sleep at line one? If they’re still awake, they should know about 90% of all cases in North Carolina end in the Court of Appeals. It is essentially our court of last resort. It catches mistakes.

What can you share about your judicial philosophy to help readers understand how you might approach important issues that come before the court?

Until the US Supreme Court told us otherwise, I always thought equal justice under law was the bedrock of any judicial philosophy. It is, after all, inscribed right there on their building. So that’s where I start–no one is above the law–and I build from there. I don’t want a philosophy built on sand.

If justices are obligated to impartially decide cases, why does it matter if people vote for a Democratic versus Republican candidate?  

To find out why it matters you’re going to have to ask the republicans because they made judicial races partisan. They insisted everyone had to pick a team. Well, their team thinks some people are “filth,” the 2020 election was stolen, and legislators should be making your medical decisions. As an exercise of judgment, I decided to stand with the other team. As an exercise in honesty, I am publicly saying I reject those values.

What do you wish reporters asked you? Why?

I wish they’d ask me something other than “why are you doing this” because the answer seems so obvious. For starters, the MAGA party thinks the people who stormed the capitol and killed law enforcement officers are patriots. The MAGA “movement” thinks we should pledge allegiance to the president! They reject the basic human right to reproductive freedom. I refuse to enable them by my silence. They could ask me about the judicial system and how republicans, for at least a decade, have been bending that system to their will instead of toward justice.

I heard someone say that if you care about education, you must vote for Democratic judges. Why?

Just like democrats believe in treating people with basic human dignity–ie, not calling them “filth”–democrats stand up and fight for education. For more than twenty years, democratic judges have said we have a constitutional right to sound, basic public education. Republican judges just radically reversed course and are standing by to rubber stamp the republican supermajority’s decision to take money away from already underfunded public schools that benefit everyone and give it to private schools that help a few and aren’t held to the same standards as public schools and aren’t accountable to the taxpayers or other stakeholders.

(We ask every candidate this question) If you could design a pair of Crocs for yourself, what would they look like?

We need a pair of crocs with Abraham Lincoln’s face printed on them looking out at the world.
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Why shouldn’t judges take an extreme position?

We want our judges to be the voices of reason. Extremism is a manifestation of our base instincts, and reason is not one of those. This is not hard stuff.

Melody Kramer is a Peabody-award winning journalist whose work has appeared on NPR and member stations around the country, as well as in publications ranging from National Geographic to Esquire Magazine....