Hackney Library is pleased to host the Honorable Robin E. Hudson, Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, as featured speaker at our annual Constitution Day reception and program. The event will be held this year on Monday, September 19, 2016 at Hackney Library from 5:00-7:00 pm.

(Constitution Day is traditionally celebrated each September 17 to mark the anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution on that date in 1787, but since it falls on a Saturday this year, the commemoration of the 229th anniversary is on the following Monday instead.)

The reception, which begins at 5:00 pm in the Learning Commons on the first floor, will feature refreshments, followed by the program at 5:30 pm. Justice Hudson's presentation will address "Judicial Elections and Money: Why Our Courts are not For Sale." After the presentation, a question-and-answer period will conclude the program.

This free event is sponsored by Hackney Library and is open to the Barton community as well as to the general public.

North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Robin E. Hudson holds a BA degree in philosophy and psychology from Yale University and a JD degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law. She was admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 1976 and practiced law in Raleigh and Durham until elected to the Court of Appeals in November 2000. She is the first North Carolina woman elected to the appellate court division without having been appointed first. Justice Hudson served on the NC Court of Appeals from January 2001 through December 2006. During that time, she helped organize and coordinate the Court of Appeals voluntary mediation program. She was elected to the Supreme Court and began her first 8-year term in January 2007. In 2014, she was re-elected to her current term, which runs through 2022.

Except for 3 years as assistant appellant defender in the mid 1980s, Justice Hudson practiced law in the private sector and handled a variety of trials and appeals, concentrating on workers' compensation and tort litigation, with particular emphasis on occupational disease and products liability, as well as criminal law. She practiced extensively before the Industrial Commission, as well as in all levels of State and Federal courts. From 1994 until she began serving on the Court of Appeals, she was certified to mediate cases from Superior Court and the Industrial Commission.

She has served on a variety of boards, professional associations, and commissions, including her appointment by the Chief Justice to the Family Court Advisory Committee in 2001. In addition, she has received a variety of awards and honors: In 2004, she received the Outstanding Appellate Judge Award from the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (now Advocates for Justice); in 2005, she was awarded the Voices of Experience Recognition by the Gold Leaf Chapter of the Association of Business Women of America; in 2006 she received the Women of Achievement Award from the General Federation of Women’s clubs; and in 2008, she received the Gwyneth B. Davis Award for Public Services for the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys.

Justice Hudson was born in DeKalb County, Georgia but moved to Greensboro, NC with her family in 1966. She is married and has two grown children—both second grade teachers—and one granddaughter.

Please join us on September 19 for an informative program on the Constitution by a member of the North Carolina’s highest state court.