In a recent Assembly investigation, “The Lawyers Who Kept Screwing Up,” Emancipate NC’s Strategic Director and Attorney Elizabeth Simpson offered an unflinching assessment of the persistent errors and dysfunction within a division of the North Carolina Department of Justice (NC DOJ).
The article exposes how state attorneys repeatedly frustrated federal judges with careless mistakes and missed deadlines—even in cases the state was virtually certain to win. Simpson’s remarks cut to the heart of the issue: a justice system so structurally broken that accuracy, accountability, and professionalism have become optional rather than expected.
“No deadline will be respected. [Filings are] going to be incomplete. You’re going to have to follow up and follow up and follow up again to try to get what you’re trying to get. And the things that are filed are going to be sloppy,”
— Elizabeth Simpson, Emancipate NC
Her words reflect what advocates, defense attorneys, and impacted individuals experience daily—the fallout of a system that too often treats people’s rights as administrative afterthoughts.
At Emancipate NC, Simpson’s ongoing work continues to expose how bureaucratic negligence disproportionately harms those least able to defend themselves. The revelations in The Assembly piece highlight an urgent truth: justice cannot exist without competence, transparency, and accountability.
Emancipate NC remains steadfast in its commitment to demanding a legal system where deadlines matter, filings are complete, and the pursuit of justice is treated with the seriousness our communities deserve.