On Tuesday, State Supreme Court Justice Paul Newby replaced Donna Stroud as North Carolina Court of Appeals chief with Chris Dillon.
The longest-serving Court of Appeals judge is usually the chief judge. Stroud was elected to Court of Appeals in 2006, six years before Dillon.
Newby, Stroud, and Dillon are Republicans, but Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger, Jr., who supported Stroud's 2022 primary rival, has criticized Stroud.
According to North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, Berger was upset with Stroud for not supporting a former law clerk's Court of Appeals clerk run.
A former Democrat was appointed clerk after Stroud and another Republican joined Democrats and voted for him, despite Republicans' 10-5 majority on the Court of Appeals.
Berger accused Stroud of whipping votes so “the dems got their clerk of court,” according to North Carolina Lawyers Weekly.
The North Carolina Supreme Court Historical Society reports that all Chief Judges have retired or died. Neither happened here since Judge Stroud remains on the Court of Appeals, Brook wrote.
The Administrative Office of the Courts did not react to NC Newsline. The Court of Appeals chief is Dillon, not Stroud, according to its bios page, but there is no news release reporting the change.