THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070519
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
Edgar L. Barnes should be presiding over District Court by now.
But 18 months after the governor appointed the Outer Banks attorney to a newly created judgeship, Barnes is still trying cases in front of the bench - instead of sitting on it.
The U.S. Justice Department agrees that North Carolina's 1st Judicial District needs another judge. But the federal officials disagree with the way that the Tar Heel state elects judges, saying the process causes ``black voters to have a limited electoral opportunity.'' Until the process changes, Justice Department officials said they will not approve the additional judge position, which pays $65,624 a year.
And until they do, Barnes, 35, cannot become a judge.
Late last month, officials with North Carolina's Administrative Office of the Courts asked the Justice Department to reconsider the additional judgeship.
James C. Drennan, who oversees that state department, said Thursday that he expects a decision by early summer.
``We've simply got to have more judges,'' Drennan said from his Raleigh office. ``I wanted to wait and see if the legislature was going to try to change the judicial election process this session. But now it doesn't appear that will happen. So I decided to go ahead and ask the Justice Department to reconsider their objection.''
Barnes, a graduate of North Carolina Central University Law School, said he is tired of waiting for a decision. But he is glad that the state is keeping his case alive. And he remains hopeful that he soon will become a judge.
``At first, it was difficult waiting and wondering when this all would happen. I was optimistic about becoming a judge - which has been a lifelong dream for me,'' Barnes said from his Nags Head office. ``Then, I got discouraged by how long it all took.
``Now, I'm just living my life and continuing my law practice. I haven't given up. But I'm no longer hanging in limbo.''
North Carolina's 1st Judicial District includes seven counties in the Albemarle Area - from Dare in the east to Hertford in the west. Three District Court judges serve those counties. An increase in caseloads, however, has backlogged dockets and required retired judges to come back to court.
In November 1993, North Carolina's General Assembly approved eight new Superior Court judgeships and eight new District Court judgeships in districts across the state. Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. appointed Barnes to the new 1st District seat Nov. 20, 1993. Barnes expected to begin adjudicating cases within two months.
But the Justice Department, which reviews any additional state judge positions, did not rule on the legislature's proposed changes until more than a year later. On Feb. 14, 1994, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division informed Drennan that six of the eight new District Court judgeships had been denied.
The two new District Court positions that were approved are in District 6B, a black-majority area ``where black voters have a substantial electoral opportunity,'' and in District 30, ``which is only 1 percent black in voting age population,'' according to James P. Turner, the Justice Department's Acting Assistant Attorney General.
``The other six districts range . . . between 18 percent and 33 percent black,'' Turner wrote. ``It appears that in these districts black voters have only a limited electoral opportunity.''
To run against a Superior Court judge, candidates have to run against all the judges who sit in that district. The top vote-getters take the seats. But District Court judge candidates challenge only one incumbent.
The other judges do not have to face competition for re-election to their four-year terms. That method, Justice Department officials said, ``was generally regarded . . . as a means for limiting the opportunity of minority voters to effectively participate in state elections.''
North Carolina officials decided not to fight for five of the additional District Court judgeships. But the 1st District is different, Drennan said, because of the history of voting in that area. That's why the state wants the Justice Department to reconsider only the seat that Barnes has been nominated to fill.
``We have 22 percent minorities in the 1st District. But we've elected two African-American judges in the past five years,'' Barnes said. ``The Justice Department wants the state to create minority sub-districts to ensure that minority candidates can be elected. Under the current system, we're already electing minority judges - over white candidates.
``The people of the1st Judicial District have suffered because of this delay,'' said Barnes. ``There is a significant amount of lag time in getting cases heard. In summer months, one-fourth to one-third of the cases scheduled for trial are continued because the judges are just too busy to get to them.''
In 1990, 1st Judicial District voters elected Janice M. Cole the first black District Court judge for that area. She defeated three white males in the race. Last year, Cole left her District Court post to become a U.S. attorney. Her husband, J.C. Cole, was elected to the same seat in November 1994. He won over a white male, receiving 59 percent of the votes.
``It seems clear to me that the people of the 1st District want their judiciary to be racially diverse - and have voted in that manner,'' N.C. Sen. Frank W. Ballance Jr. wrote the Justice Department.
As chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, Ballance urged the federal officials to ``grant pre-clearance to this judgeship.''
If, after a second review, the Justice Department again denies the new District Court judge position for North Carolina's 1st Judicial District, state officials have two choices to continue trying to get Barnes on the bench: change the judicial election process; or sue the federal government. Either option probably would take two to five years to implement. ILLUSTRATION: Edgar Barnes
by CNB