-This article is part of WIZS’s continuing coverage of the Nov. 8 election.
Julee Tate Flood currently works as attorney at the N.C. Court of Appeals, but she’s drawing on her broad experience in the field of law and her institutional knowledge of the state’s appellate court system in her race for Seat 8 on the N.C. Court of Appeals.
Flood, the Republican nominee for the seat on the 15-judge court, spoke with John C. Rose on Wednesday’s TownTalk. She currently works with Judge Jeffery Carpenter, one of the 15 judges that sit on the N.C. Court of Appeals.
“Diverse cases come before the court,” she said, adding that she and her team are challenged daily with pressing legal questions, but she is motivated to solve issues by applying the knowledge that she has gained during her career as an attorney.
Flood’s legal career spans more than two decades, and during that time, she said she’s worked with four Democratic judges and five Republican judges.
“My role has been to research, analyze the law deeply and write judicial opinions,” she said. It’s her “working history and demonstrated ability to apply the law and write for the judges,” no matter their political affiliation, that makes her the best candidate for the job.
The N.C. Court of Appeals is “an error-correcting court for the trial courts,” Flood explained, adding that on average, the court’s five 3-judge panels preside over as many as 1,200 each year. Of that number, only a very small percentage goes to the N.C. Supreme Court – that means that the appeals court is the final stop for rulings to be upheld or overturned.
Flood said she “uniquely qualified” to serve on the court because of her direct experience at the appellate court level. As a judge, she would look to the text of the law as it applies to each individual case before her.
“The law says what it means and means what it says,” she noted, adding that as a judge, she will apply the law as it is. “There is stability in the law…(and) if I’ve followed the law, the fairness component is there,” Flood said.
She said that, as a judge, she will “treat each person with dignity and respect and will stand firm against judicial activism.
She has been a law professor and also serves as in-house counsel for a private sector business, and she earned a PhD specializing in the law and policy of higher education. It’s this broad-based set of experiences that adds to her skillset that she will bring to the table if elected.
The N.C. Court of Appeals hears all types of cases from the lower courts, including family court, criminal and civil cases and others, and Flood says those cases could be anything from issues with custody issues, neighbor-to-neighbor issues and “just about anything you can think of that happens at the trial court,” she said.
In her current role, Flood said she supervises and works with a team of attorneys – and interns preparing to enter the profession. “Every single day I consider it an honor and joy to be working with (those) whom I’m working with,” she said.
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