Recent Legislative Changes Affecting Judicial Authority and Administration

House Bill 620, chaptered as S.L. 2025-54, enacted several changes affecting judicial authority and administration that may be of interest to practitioners generally. This post will review the legislation’s provisions affecting removal proceedings, the jurisdiction of specially assigned superior court judges, substitution of one trial judge for another, age limits for service as a trial judge, protocols for recovery courts, the disclosure of courtroom audio recordings, training and educational materials for jurors, and the appointment of magistrates. Removal proceedings. Some background is in order before addressing the changes S.L. 2025-54 makes to the proceedings for the suspension or removal from office of a clerk of superior court. In re Chastain. Last December, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued its opinion in In re Chastain, 386 N.C. 678 (2024) (Chastain III), reversing an earlier ruling of the Court of Appeals and, in the process, finding the standard for removal for a clerk of superior court in the then-existing version of G.S. 7A-105 at odds with the constitutional standard. Chastain III was the culmination of years of litigation around whether the actions of Patricia Chastain, the former clerk of superior court in Franklin County, warranted her removal from office. At the time of the removal proceedings in that case (which began in 2020), G.S. 7A-105 provided that a clerk of superior court could be suspended or removed from office for willful misconduct or mental or physical incapacity under the same general procedures that governed the suspension or removal of a district attorney. G.S. [...]