Lucy Inman decided to run for the North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Seat 03 when the seat became available, coinciding with when her term for the North Carolina Court of Appeals ends as well.
She said she believes this is an important race to run because the decisions that the court makes will have an effect on generations to come. Inman is running as a Democrat but said one of the biggest problems that the court faces is how partisan it has gotten.
“The leaders of the Democratic party have been very supportive despite that, because they have responded positively to my position with critical issues, including rights to vote, rights of free speech, access to health care, education,” Inman said. “It's most important that each of the seven justices on our Supreme Court considers each case fairly and impartially.”
Inman said even though this is a partisan race, she is not dependent on her party to make every decision. She said part of letting her constituents know she is making her own decisions, is shown by her decision to be specific about what endorsements she allows her campaign to take.
“Unlike members of the legislature, we don't represent a platform or set of policies — we owe a duty of impartiality to every person who comes,” Inman said. “I differentiate myself in my race by emphasizing that other than my own campaign, which I promote as hard as I can, to avoid political endorsements of candidates that I didn't endorse.”
Inman said part of her ability to represent North Carolina impartially has come from her background as a newspaper reporter before she became a judge, where her goal in both careers was to treat everyone with fairness and respect. She then practiced civil litigation and said from there, she was able to interact with a variety of people on a variety of topics, such as free speech cases, small businesses and on cases with celebrities.
“I served as a trial judge as a superior court judge for four years,” Inman said. “All across North Carolina and in the course of that experience, I learned about the different cultures throughout North Carolina. And I learned from the perspective of a judge what the witnesses and jurors are experiencing in those trials and proceedings.”
She said through this experience, it was a natural progression to serve on North Carolina’s Supreme Court — one she felt moved to serve on because of issues of partisanship within the courts.
“I want to serve our state's highest court because I believe I am prepared to help decide the hardest fought and the most difficult cases that come before the court of North Carolina and to shoulder the responsibility of making decisions that will affect North Carolinians for generations to come,” Inman said. “I’m particularly motivated to run to the Supreme Court to protect the court from what I see as partisan, political influence that threatens the independence of our Supreme Court justices.”