Ward and Smith attorney Chris Edwards authored an article in the North Carolina Advocates for Justice’s Trial Briefs publication, breaking down how and when attorneys can appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court on the basis of a constitutional question.
In “How to Appeal Based on a Constitutional Question,” Chris distinguishes this path from a petition for discretionary review (PDR) and walks through the procedural steps required to get a case heard as a matter of right under N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(1).
Chris, a North Carolina State Bar Board Certified Specialist in Appellate Practice, explains that the notice of appeal is really an appellate brief that highlights the important and unsettled nature of the constitutional issue. He notes that parties bear the burden of showing their case raises a real and substantial constitutional question that hasn’t already been conclusively resolved, and that the notice must specify the constitutional provisions at issue while showing how the question was preserved and timely raised below.
Chris also observes that the best practice may be to file both a notice of appeal and a PDR:
In many cases, it’s also easy to frame the unresolved constitutional issue as one important to the jurisprudence of our state. For that reason, many notices of appeal also contain alternative PDRs.
Chris also outlines the filing deadline and highlights a key advantage of this route: review under § 7A-30(1) is plenary, meaning a party who secures it can reargue every issue raised at the Court of Appeals, not just the constitutional one.
Read the full article in NCAJ’s Trial Briefs for Chris’s complete breakdown of the process and strategy behind constitutional appeals.