Jump to content

Allison Riggs

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Allison Riggs
Riggs in 2025
Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court
Incumbent
Assumed office
September 13, 2023
Appointed byRoy Cooper
Preceded byMichael R. Morgan
Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals
In office
January 1, 2023 – September 13, 2023
Appointed byRoy Cooper
Preceded byRichard Dietz
Succeeded byCarolyn Thompson
Personal details
Born (1981-05-08) May 8, 1981 (age 44)
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of Florida (BA, MA, JD)

Allison Jean Riggs (born May 8, 1981)[1] is an American state court judge who is an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. She was appointed by Governor Roy Cooper in 2023 and retained her seat in the 2024 election.[2]

Riggs has served as co-leader of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham, North Carolina, and has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in a Texas redistricting case in 2018 and a North Carolina redistricting case in 2019.[3][4]

Early life and education

[edit]

Riggs was born in New York, and raised in Morgantown, West Virginia.[5][6] Her father is a US Navy veteran,[7] who worked at West Virginia University.[5] She is the eldest of four children,[7] one brother, who also served in the military,[7] and three sisters.[5] She attended private school until middle school, and then went to the local public high school, where she was a National Merit Scholar.[5]

Riggs earned her Bachelor of Arts in Microbiology from the University of Florida in 2003.[8] As an undergraduate, she researched the effect of recreational drugs, such as MDMA, on brain structures.[6] For graduate school, she continued at the University of Florida and received a Master's degree in History in 2006, and a Juris Doctor in 2009.[8][4][9] In law school, she became involved in voting rights efforts.[7] She served as president of the American Constitution Society and invested in the Restoration of Civil Rights Clinic.[5] During her law school summers, she worked at the UNC School of Government and in the North Carolina Attorney General’s office.[5]

Career

[edit]

In 2009, Riggs joined the Voting Rights Program at Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham, North Carolina.[10] As part of her various roles, she was responsible for writing the grant that created the organization.[9] During her tenure,[11] she served as a staff attorney, senior attorney, chief counsel for Voting Rights,[12] interim executive director, and co-executive director.[10][13]

Notable cases

[edit]
  • In 2018, Riggs argued for the plaintiffs in Abbott v. Perez. The case involved a challenge to Texas's 2013 redistricting plan as unlawfully based on race, violating the Fourteenth Amendment's prohibition on racial gerrymandering and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Split 5-4 along ideological lines, the Court upheld Texas's redistricting as lawful because the state was entitled to legislative good faith, and the plaintiffs could not meet their burden of proof. [17]
  • In 2021, Riggs was part of the legal team in Judicial Watch v. North Carolina. The suit was to compel the State of North Carolina, the North Carolina State Board of Elections, the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, and the Guilford County Board of Elections to comply with their voter rolls maintenance and record production obligations under Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.[18][19]

Judicial career

[edit]

North Carolina Court of Appeals

[edit]

Governor Roy Cooper appointed Riggs to be a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals starting on January 1, 2023. She filled the vacancy on the Court of Appeals created by the election of Richard Dietz to the North Carolina Supreme Court.[8]

North Carolina Supreme Court

[edit]
See also: 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court election § Aftermath

Governor Cooper appointed Riggs to be a judge on the North Carolina Supreme Court in September 2023, filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Michael R. Morgan.[20] She won the election for the same position in November 2024. Jefferson Griffin, her Republican opponent, lost by 734 votes. Despite two independent recounts and judicial review by the Wake County Superior Court and the State Board of Elections, which found his claims of election manipulation baseless, he refused to concede.[21] On May 5, 2025, Chief District Judge Richard E. Myers II ordered the North Carolina Board of Elections to certify the results of the state’s Supreme Court election and that the ballots challenged by Griffin should be counted, deeming the "retroactive invalidation of absentee ballots cast by overseas military and civilian voters violates those voters’ substantive due process rights.”[22]

On May 7, 2025, Jefferson Griffin conceded the North Carolina Supreme Court race to Allison Riggs, ending a more than six-month legal challenge and concluding the final uncertified contest of the 2024 general election cycle.[23] The North Carolina State Board of Elections issued a certificate of election to Riggs on May 13, 2025.[24] Later that day, during a ceremony held in the old House chamber of the North Carolina State Capitol, Riggs was administered the oath of office by Associate Justice Anita Earls and officially sworn in to begin her eight-year term on the court.[25]

Electoral history

[edit]
Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (Seat 6) Democratic primary election, 2024[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Allison Riggs (incumbent) 450,268 69.10
Democratic Lora Christine Cubbage 201,336 30.90
Total votes 651,604 100.00
North Carolina Supreme Court election, 2024[27]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Allison Riggs (incumbent) 2,770,412 50.01
Republican Jefferson Griffin 2,769,678 49.99
Total votes 5,540,090 100.00

References

[edit]
  1. ^ 42 in February 2024 (Cruz, David (February 14, 2024). "Appointed justice seeks election to NC Supreme Court seat". Rocky Mount Telegram. Retrieved April 21, 2025.), 43 in November 2024 ("North Carolina Supreme Court race may be headed to recount". North State Journal. November 6, 2024. Retrieved April 21, 2025.)
  2. ^ "Federal judge says results of North Carolina court race with Democrat ahead must be certified". Politico. Associated Press. May 5, 2025. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  3. ^ "Voting rights lawyer to fill North Carolina appeals court seat". WUNC. Associated Press. December 16, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Peoples Parity Project Judicial Recommendations". Peoples Parity Project.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Riggs, Allison (February 28, 2014). "Allison Riggs Oral History Transcript". David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Duke University. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  6. ^ a b Hewlett, Michael (September 20, 2024) [September 19, 2024]. "Dominoes on the Court". City View NC. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d Stuart, Tessa (May 2, 2025). "North Carolina Justice Speaks Out About Republicans' Effort to Steal Her Seat". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  8. ^ a b c Winstead, Mary Scott (December 15, 2022). "Governor Cooper Announces Judicial Appointment". governor.nc.gov (Press release). Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  9. ^ a b "LCDP Women's and Men Meeting with Judge Allison Riggs". Lincoln County, NC Democratic Party. February 26, 2024. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  10. ^ a b "Gov. Roy Cooper Appoints Allison Riggs to Court of Appeals". Southern Coalition for Social Justice. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  11. ^ "Southern Coalition for Social Justice". southerncoalition.org. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  12. ^ Kirkland, Allegra (January 15, 2020). "Allison Riggs: A Day in the Life of a Voting Rights Attorney". Teen Vogue. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  13. ^ "Judge Allison Riggs Formally Invested as Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals | North Carolina Judicial Branch". nccourts.gov.
  14. ^ Holmes, Jack (March 29, 2019). "The Supreme Court May Be About to Draw an Out-of-Bounds Line to Save Democracy". Esquire.
  15. ^ "League of Women Voters of North Carolina, et al. v. North Carolina". ACLU. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  16. ^ "Allison Riggs Appointed to North Carolina Court of Appeals, Steps Down from Service as LWVUS Board Member". League of Women Voters (Press release). December 15, 2022.
  17. ^ "Abbott v. Perez". scotusblog.com.
  18. ^ "Judicial Watch, Inc. v. State of North Carolina et al". www.law360.com.
  19. ^ "Judicial Watch, Inc. v. North Carolina, Civil Action 3:20-CV-211-RJC-DCK | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com.
  20. ^ "Governor Cooper Announces Two Judicial Appointments | NC Gov. Cooper". governor.nc.gov.
  21. ^ Pierce, Charles P. (April 7, 2025). "Republicans in North Carolina Just Won't Admit That a Democrat Won". Esquire. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
  22. ^ Polus, Sarah (May 5, 2025). "Federal judge rules North Carolina must certify state Supreme Court victory". TheHill.com. Retrieved May 6, 2025.
  23. ^ Ingram, Kyle (May 7, 2025). "Griffin concedes NC Supreme Court race, ending unprecedented effort to overturn election". The News & Observer. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  24. ^ "Information for Voters Challenged in Election Protest". North Carolina Board of Elections. May 9, 2025. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  25. ^ Kingdollar, Brandon (May 13, 2025). "More than six months after Election Day, Allison Riggs is sworn into the NC Supreme Court". NC Newsline. Retrieved May 13, 2025.
  26. ^ "03/05/2024 OFFICIAL PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS - STATEWIDE". North Carolina State Board of Elections. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
  27. ^ "2024 November General Election Recount" (PDF). Retrieved December 18, 2024.
[edit]
Legal offices
Preceded by Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court
2023–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Allison_Riggs&oldid=1298857450"