{"id":5962,"date":"2021-12-01T20:23:59","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T20:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=5962"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:59:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:59:15","slug":"as-cases-soar-emergency-judges-keep-courts-moving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2021\/12\/01\/as-cases-soar-emergency-judges-keep-courts-moving\/","title":{"rendered":"As cases soar, emergency judges keep courts moving"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judge Nancy Gordon emerges from a concealed door behind the bench into Courtroom 5A. No one notices her, except for the bailiff, who stands and commands, \u201cAll rise!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis honorable court for the County of Durham is now open and sitting,\u201d the bailiff says on this morning in early October. \u201cThe Honorable Judge Nancy Gordon presiding.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During the bailiff\u2019s cry, Gordon, 67, walks the few feet to the judge\u2019s chair. She wears thin-frame glasses, and her short brown hair, with a faint white streak, is tied back. Her black robe engulfs her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She takes a laptop out from under her arm and places it on the desk. Lingering for a moment, she stands with a hand on the chair. The pause lasts just long enough that when the courtroom sits down after the cry, she does too. That way, they all sit in unison.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a familiar ritual, one Gordon first took part in for decades as a family law attorney, then practiced as a Durham District Court judge. As a jurist, she has never known if she\u2019s supposed to sit or stand during the cry. That\u2019s still the case now that she\u2019s an emergency judge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When sitting judges are unavailable, emergency judges step in to keep the court system \u2014 and its ever-growing caseload \u2014 moving. Unlike sitting judges, however, they aren\u2019t voted onto the bench by constituents in partisan elections. Most lost their bids for re-election, like Gordon in 2014, or chose not to run for another term.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the bench, emergency judges hold the same judicial power they did as elected officials. But there\u2019s no longer the subtle pressure of re-election, or the hovering spectre of a constituency. There\u2019s only the expectation to administer justice fairly and objectively.<\/span> Before each court session, the bailiff\u2019s cry reminds Gordon of this responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReally what [the bailiff\u2019s cry] is about is the institution, not the person,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cYou’re representing one of the branches of government, and that’s a whole lot bigger than you.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t own the court system the way I used to\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

When Gordon lost re-election\u2019, she spent 90 days away from the bench \u2014 the minimum time before she could apply to be an emergency judge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once an emergency judge is placed on an active list, the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) and the chief justice of the state supreme court can assign them to hold court for several reasons, including if a judge goes on medical leave, if a case overload occurs due to a vacancy, or if a judge recuses themselves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Emergency judges\u2019 schedules are unpredictable. They may serve in any county in the state, unlike sitting District Court judges. Gordon has spent a single day in some courtrooms; in other courthouses, weeks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gordon was assigned to oversee domestic violence cases in Durham for a week in October. Since August, she has filled in for former District Court Judge Brian Wilks after his promotion to Superior Court.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Oct. 13, Gordon is sharp and quick. One attorney requests that today be her client\u2019s last appearance for a two-month long case. Without looking up, Gordon cuts her off and snaps, \u201cI\u2019m not marking it last.\u201d They schedule another appearance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gordon runs through the afternoon\u2019s 37 cases with remarkable speed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once, she raises her voice at a witness who filed a complaint against the mother of his son.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know where your eight-year-old goes to school? Do you have custody papers?\u201d Gordon chides. \u201cIf you really want your son to live with you, you should know how he\u2019s doing in school.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He tells Gordon that his son is playing the guitar at an upcoming talent show, and her tone softens. She asks if he and the mother can stay 500 feet apart at the event.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gordon commands the courtroom, in part because of her familiarity with Durham. But over the last seven years, the state has changed \u2014 and so has her work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t know the younger lawyers, and they don\u2019t know her. When she gets assigned to other counties, they don\u2019t know what to expect from her. Smaller counties welcome visiting judges, but \u201cin a sort of sucking up way that makes me a little uncomfortable.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t own the court system the way I used to,\u201d Gordon said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By this she means she isn\u2019t overseeing cases as often as she did as a District Court judge. But if owning the system also means making judicial decisions without the stress of re-election, Gordon might own the system more now than she ever did.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018It was like watching heads explode\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

In North Carolina, defendants who participate in the state\u2019s community service program must pay a $250 fee. But many can\u2019t come up with the funds, Gordon said. Instead in Durham, judges order community service at a non-profit.<\/span><\/p>\n

So that\u2019s what Gordon ordered when she went to oversee criminal court in Alamance County, a region in north-central North Carolina that leans Republican.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like watching heads explode,\u201d Gordon said, laughing. \u201cThey\u2019d never seen this before. And I\u2019m sure they were thinking, \u2018Who is this progressive judge coming from Durham, that little blue hole?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She could do that because she doesn\u2019t plan to run for office again. As an emergency judge, Gordon doesn\u2019t wonder if the lawyers like her judicial philosophy and will vote for her re-election, she said. She doesn\u2019t worry about how she\u2019ll raise campaign funds. And she doesn\u2019t have to fret about whether someone will challenge her in the next election.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just need to be on the right side of judicial standards, which makes me feel a little more independent about some of the things I can do and not do,\u201d she said. \u201cI just have to do the job that I think is a good job.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Re-election is an unspoken concern among sitting judges. Another emergency judge, Lunsford Long, noted that sometimes, sitting judges recuse themselves from a \u201chot-button type of case that\u2019s going to have political ramifications.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo [the AOC] calls in an emergency judge and says, \u2018Look, you\u2019re not an elected judge. You\u2019re not from here. Why don\u2019t you come down here and resolve this mess,\u2019\u201d said Long, who served as an elected judge from Orange County from 2009-2016. \u201c[Judges] wouldn\u2019t say that they\u2019re [concerned about re-election], but that\u2019s obviously what\u2019s going on when they want to duck the case.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Attorneys who work in the same courtroom daily also grow familiar with their judges. Sometimes they become too familiar, which makes arguing cases in front of an emergency judge difficult, said Christy Malott, a senior staff attorney at JusticeMatters, an advocacy non-profit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If Malott knew who the emergency judge was ahead of time, she altered her presentation: the aspects she focused on, the way she presented evidence. She called attorneys in other counties and asked, \u201cWho knows this judge? What do I need to know in order to do a good job?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBringing in a new judge can make it a little bit harder, but the alternative is that all those cases don\u2019t get heard,\u201d Malott said. \u201cThe calendar gets more and more backed up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Court should still be able to work\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

In 2017, <\/span>the number of emergency judges was hacked<\/span><\/a> by two-thirds in a General Assembly budget cut.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The AOC did not respond to requests for comment and recent data on the number of emergency judges in time for publication.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gordon, who views her role as an \u201cexperienced, knowledgeable backup,\u201d believes the state should make more emergency judges available. Sitting judges bear caseloads that are too large and practice too little self-care, she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJudges should be able to take a vacation and their court should still be able to work,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the middle of Gordon\u2019s October session, a defendant doesn\u2019t know the name of his public defender. She tells him that it\u2019s Barbara Lagemann and recommends that he meet her before his next court date, which Gordon schedules for Nov. 30.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As he turns and begins to walk out of the courtroom, Gordon yells, \u201cWhen\u2019s your next court date, sir?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s startled. Over his shoulder, he mumbles, \u201cNovember 30th.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grinning, Gordon throws up her arm and gives a thumbs up: \u201cYou\u2019re free to go.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Being a judge is solitary work. If you do it right, Gordon said, the job is also exhausting. Yet none of that deters her.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRetirement\u2019s not all it\u2019s cracked up to be,\u201d she said. \u201cI like keeping my head active. I like being a judge.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PHOTO ABOVE:<\/strong> Judge Nancy Gordon has been an emergency judge since losing a re-election bid in 2014.<\/p>\n

Correction:<\/em> An earlier version of this story misspelled Barbara Lagemann’s last name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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