FILE - In this Aug. 2, 1999 file photo, N.C. Supreme Court Justice Henry Frye gets hugs from his granddaughters Whitney Frye, 13, left, Jordan Frye, 11, middle, and Endya,10 in Raleigh, N.C. In North Carolina's Supreme Court chamber hangs a towering painting of Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin, a 19th century slave owner and jurist who authored a notorious opinion about the “absolute” rights of slaveholders over the enslaved. Two African American chief justices have sat on the bench beneath Ruffin's stare: Frye who served as chief justice for about a year from 1999 to 2000 after 16 years as an associate justice; and Cheri Beasley, who was an associate justice for about seven years before she was appointed as chief justice in 2019. (Scott Sharpe/The News & Observer via AP)
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