APNewsBreak: N Carolina chief justice to resign next month

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Chief Justice Mark Martin is leaving the state’s Supreme Court after 20 years to become a Virginia law school dean.

The resignation means Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper gets to decide who fills the Republican’s seat on the court and who the next chief justice will be. Five of the seven current Supreme Court members are registered Democrats.

Martin told The Associated Press on Friday of his decision to resign the chief justice’s post at the end of February. He’s held the post since 2014 and will become dean of Regent University law school in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Martin tells the AP he’s still young enough at age 55 to do something different and wanted to work with young people seeking to make a difference in the world.