Philip Berger Jr. (born March 26, 1972) is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

since 2021. Berger was elected to a seat on the

North Carolina Court of Appeals The North Carolina Court of Appeals (in case citation, N.C. Ct. App.) is the only intermediate appellate court in the state of North Carolina. It is composed of fifteen members who sit in rotating panels of three. The Court of Appeals was created ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, defeating incumbent Judge

Linda Stephens Linda Stephens is an American lawyer who formerly served as an associate judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. She was first appointed to the Court of Appeals by Gov. Mike Easley (D-NC) in January 2006 and lost her seat in the general ele ...

. In the 2020 judicial elections, while still serving on that court, he was elected as a Republican to an eight-year term to begin January 1, 2021, as a justice of the

, taking the seat formerly held by Justice Paul Martin Newby and defeating a fellow Court of Appeals Judge

Lucy Inman Lucy Noble Inman is a judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and formerly served as a special North Carolina Superior Court judge. She won election to the appellate court in a North Carolina judicial elections, 2014, statewide race on Novem ...

. Berger's father is longtime North Carolina Senate President ''pro tempore'' Phil Berger. Berger formerly served as

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

Rockingham County, North Carolina Rockingham County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,096. Its county seat is Wentworth. The county is known as "North Carolina's North Star." Rockingham County is included in ...

, and as an administrative law judge. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Ethical controversies

Berger's political connections have brought scrutiny to his family relationships and ethics. For example, his campaign for the State Supreme Court was alleged to have violated state election laws preventing the intermixing of candidate and PAC funds. That case was dropped with Berger Jr. demanding an apology for misinformation. Berger Jr. faced calls to recuse himself from a case involving a North Carolina voter ID law in which his father was a named-defendant. Berger Jr. ultimately did not recuse himself in that case,N.C. State Conf. of NAACP v. Moore, No. 261A18-3, (Statement of Justice Berger denying motion for recusal). writing a dissent from the majority's holding against his father.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Phil Jr. 1972 births 21st-century American judges District attorneys in North Carolina Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court Living people North Carolina Court of Appeals judges North Carolina Republicans Wake Forest University School of Law alumni