The 2008 election campaigns are in full force in North Carolina. The airwaves abound with advertisements for President, Governor, United States Senate, and various other state offices. Amidst all of the media attention devoted to these important executive and legislative positions, it is easy to forget about the third branch in our state democratic system—the judiciary. Unlike their federal counterparts on the United States Supreme Court, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, North Carolina Supreme Court Justices are elected. On November 4, 2008, North Carolina voters will elect one Justice to an eight year term on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Moreover, because North Carolina Supreme Court elections became non-partisan in 2002, North Carolina voters will elect the next state supreme court Justice without political party affi liations of the judicial candidates on the ballot.
Related Event: North Carolina Supreme Court Judicial Candidate Forum - Event Audio/Video
Professor of Law, High Point School of Law
Scott Gaylord directs High Point Law’s Appellate Litigation Clinic and serves as a Professor of Law, teaching Constitutional Law and related upper-level elective courses. The Appellate Clinic works with students to write and file briefs in significant court cases, including appeals before the United States Supreme Court.
Professor Gaylord is a prominent Constitutional Law scholar with an impressive background in both academia and legal practice. He has authored or co-authored 18 substantial law review articles, co-authored a Constitutional Law casebook, and has written more than 35 amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court and federal circuit courts on prominent national cases involving religious liberty and free speech. He is a frequent speaker on constitutional law and First Amendment topics at law schools across the country and has regularly provided commentary on ongoing constitutional issues to national media outlets, including th eNew York Times, USA Today, the Diane Rehm Show, NPR, The National Constitution Center, and Bloomberg Law.
Professor Gaylord also started an appellate advocacy clinic at his former law school and currently serves on the North Carolina Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, along with holding many other service and leadership roles. Prior to joining the academy in 2007, he practiced complex civil and commercial litigation with the Charlotte firm of Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson, and he clerked for Judge Edith H. Jones on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Professor Gaylord earned his B.A. in philosophy and English, summa cum laude, from Colgate University, his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School, where he also graduated summa cum laude.