North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Doug McCullough earlier today announced his retirement from the bench, effective immediately, only a month and a few days before he was to reach the mandatory retirement age on May 28.  Governor Roy Cooper immediately appointed former Court of Appeals judge John Arrowood to fill the seat left vacant by Judge McCullough’s early retirement.  This surprising chain of events appears to be directly related to proposed legislation that would reduce the size of the Court of Appeals (see here).  The Raleigh News and Observer has additional details here.

–Patrick Kane