Q&A: Jefferson Griffin discusses Court of Appeals experience, judicial conduct

The Daily Tar Heel's Victoria Yang spoke with Jefferson Griffin, a candidate for the N.C. Supreme Court, to discuss his candidacy and aspirations for the court. His Democratic opponent is Allison Riggs.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Daily Tar Heel: What do you want voters to know about you?

Jefferson Griffin: My life has been about service and leadership in our state and our country. I have a proven record of being able to apply the law as it's written, and build coalitions in my court and outside. I have two young children, and my wife's a professional attorney as well. The state's given a lot to us and our family, and I'd love to be able to give back and make our home a better place.

DTH: What does justice mean to you?

JG: It means that the law is applied fairly to everyone. It’s our duty, and it's in our code of judicial conduct that we don't take positions on issues that come before our court. Justice for people in our state is that the facts in the law drive the case, and that we, as jurors, remove ourselves from anything we might personally care about, and follow the law and apply the law to the facts in each case.

DTH: As a judge on the Supreme Court, which issues would be important to you?

JG: Integrity, impartiality and making sure that we follow our oath to the Constitution and to the rule of law, as compared to executive or legislative seats, judges don't get involved in policy making. 

Transparency in our courts is [also] very important. Since I joined the Court of Appeals, you used to not be able to know who was on petition panels, and I fought hard to make sure that after 90 days, those are disclosed. 

I relate my job as a soldier to what I do on the bench. There is no left or right in the Army; we put on our uniform, put the flag on our shoulder and we go do our job. We should have the same mentality on the bench – there's no policy considerations, there's no left or right. You're there to do your job as a jurist and apply the law fairly to everyone.

DTH: What makes you the better candidate?

JG: You have two very different candidates and visions for our judiciary. There's no former trial court judges on our Supreme Court now, and I'm talking to trial court judges and practitioners across the state, and they want to have that perspective on the bench. Out of the seven justices, there's none that have been a trial court judge, so I think that sets me apart. My practical experience here in the state [as well] - I've represented indigent criminal defendants, I've been a prosecutor, I've had a civil practice, I've been a military prosecutor, and I'm currently the senior defense counsel for North Carolina Army National Guard.

My dissent rate is much lower than my colleagues at our court. I've been able to to build coalitions to talk to my colleagues respectfully and make sure that we're doing the best we can for the citizens of North Carolina.

DTH: What are your primary goals if elected?

JG: Number one is trying to remove politics out of our court system and make sure that we're doing our job as jurists. 

A lot of times, it gets reported that we're Democratic or Republican [judges], but I don't like to phrase our courts in that manner. Being able to go out and explain to folks, civically, what our job is, and that there's no partisan considerations in what we do and increase our citizens’ faith in our judiciary, is a big thing for me. I grew up and worked in rural North Carolina. I've also worked in the busiest courthouse in the state. I feel like I can relate to a lot of different people in our state and be a very good advocate and vehicle for civic education here.

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