Patricia Timmons Goodson

Biography

Timmons-Goodson was born in Florence, South Carolina, the daughter of a U.S. Army enlisted man (Sergeant First Class) and homemaker, and was raised on military bases in the United States and Europe. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech in 1976. She received a Juris Doctor in 1979 from University of North Carolina School of Law. In 2014, she received a Master of Laws degree in Judicial Studies from the Duke University School of Law.

She began her career working as a district manager for the United States Census Bureau’s Charlotte Regional Office, from 1979 to 1980. From 1981 to 1983, she served as an assistant district attorney for the Office of the District Attorney for the Twelfth Judicial District in Fayetteville, North Carolina. From 1983 to 1984, she was a staff attorney for Lumbee River Legal Services.

She was named a District Court judge in 1984; she was subsequently elected as a Democrat to four-year terms as a district judge in 1986, 1990, and 1994. In 1997, she was appointed by Governor Jim Hunt to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. She retired from that court in late 2005. On January 19, 2006, North Carolina Governor Mike Easley appointed her to the North Carolina Supreme Court to take the place of Associate Justice Sarah Parker. Upon taking her seat in February 2006, she was the first African American woman to serve on the Court. She was elected by the voters to remain on the Court in November 2006, defeating Judge Eric Levinson. She made it known in November 2012 that she would resign her seat before the end of the year. Court of Appeals Judge Cheri Beasley was appointed to fill her seat.

Timmons-Goodson was inducted into the North Carolina Women's Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2014, President Barack Obama appointed her to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She has served as the Vice Chair of that Commission since 2015.

Nomination to district court

On April 28, 2016, President Obama nominated Timmons-Goodson to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, to the seat vacated by Judge Malcolm Jones Howard, who took senior status on December 31, 2005. Her nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the 114th Congress.

Personal

Justice Timmons-Goodson is married and has two sons.

She delivered the commencement address for Johnson C. Smith University on May 6, 2007.