Letts appointed to EBCI Supreme Court, vacates superior court seat
Bradley B. Letts. File photo
Last month, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians swore in Bradley B. Letts as the tribe’s new chief supreme court justice.
While the move installs an experienced jurist at the head of the tribe’s highest court, it created a vacancy in a judicial district that has seen a lot of change over the last couple of years.
During the brief swearing-in hearing, Principal Chief Michell Hicks voiced his support for Letts, whom Hicks moved to appoint out of a field of six “great” candidates.
“Me and him cut our teeth years ago when I was the CFO and he was the AG, so we had a chance to work together a few years under the Dugan administration,” Hicks reminisced. “We’ve got a few more grey hairs at this point.”
Hicks added that he was excited to get down to looking at serious policy issues at the highest level.
Letts, during brief remarks in front of Tribal Council, said he is looking forward to providing accountability when people do wrong while also working to provide the tribe with the most robust overall justice system possible.
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“We want to improve tribal safety, and we also want to strengthen our community,” Letts said.
Prior to the appointment, Letts served as the chief resident superior court judge for judicial district 43B, made up of Jackson and Haywood counties.
Upon receiving his law degree from University of Mississippi law school, Letts took a job as an assistant district attorney in Waynesville from 1995-97. He served as EBCI’s attorney general from 1997-99, then was a district court judge until 2009, when he gained an appointment as a superior court judge. In 2010, he ran unopposed and retained the seat. In 2018, he successfully defended his seat against fellow Democrat Mark Melrose,
However, in February 2019, Letts announced he was going to retire from the bench. That announcement came amid widespread speculation that Letts, an enrolled member of the Eastern Band, was planning to run for principal chief. Two days after announcing his retirement, he reversed his decision.
“After recently announcing my retirement, and after much reflection and thought, my initial decision to retire has changed,” Letts wrote. “After the announcement I was overwhelmed with responses from supporters, court personnel and members of the legal community expressing to me that I should return to my position on the Superior Court bench. This outpouring of positive and encouraging communications asking me not to retire has been overwhelming.”
Because the Eastern Band doesn’t have a constitution, it was Cherokee code that established the tribe’s supreme court, which comprises the highest court in the tribal judiciary — one of the tribe’s three branches of government. It is headed by a chief justice, who sits on the bench along with two associate judges.
Letts’ replacement for his former superior court seat will likely be appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper before he leaves office at the end of the year. Any appointee will finish out Letts’ term, which expires in 2026. At that time, an election will be held to determine who will serve the next eight years on the bench.
Letts vacating his seat is just another in a recent string of changes to the bench in Western North Carolina. Earlier this year, Letts’ counterpart in Western North Carolina, William Coward, vacated his seat as the Chief Resident Superior Court Judge for District 43A, made up of Cherokee, Graham, Clay, Macon and Swain counties. Cooper eventually appointed former District Court Judge Tessa Sellers to that seat.
There have also been changes on the district court bench in the last year. Last summer, Kristina Earwood abruptly left the bench due to the sudden onset of a serious health condition. Her seat was filled by Justin Greene, who was sworn in late last year. In addition, because Sellers vacated her District Court seat to gain the superior court appointment, her seat was filled last month by Kristy Parton. Finally, a Republican Primary Election held earlier this year determined that Macon County’s Virginia Hornsby will join the bench to fill a new judicial position created in last year’s state budget.
