Rhoda Billings

American judge (1937–2025)

Rhoda Jean Bryan Billings (September 30, 1937 – December 29, 2025) was an American lawyer and a justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court .

Life and career

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Billings was a native of Wilkesboro, North Carolina . She earned her Juris Doctor degree from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1966. She served four years as a state District Court judge (1968–1972). From 1982 to 1984 Billings served on the Board of Governors of the North Carolina Bar Association . Governor James G. Martin , a fellow Republican, appointed her to the North Carolina Supreme Court as an associate justice in 1985, after the resignation of Justice Earl W. Vaughn . When Chief Justice Joseph Branch retired, Martin then appointed her Chief Justice in 1986, making her the second woman to head the Court. She was defeated by James G. Exum in the election for chief justice in November of that year.

She became a law professor at Wake Forest University, retiring in 2003 as Professor Emeritus. Billings was named in 2008 to the National Committee on the Right to Counsel established by the Constitution Project of Georgetown University 's Public Policy Institute and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

Billings died on December 29, 2025, at the age of 88.

See also

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• List of female state supreme court justices

References

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1. ↑ Who's who in American Law . November 1977. ISBN   .

 ["Rhoda Bryan Billings ('66) receives John J. Parker Award from North Carolina Bar Association"](http://news.law.wfu.edu/2012/06/rhoda-billings-66-receives-john-j-parker-award/)
. Wake Forest University. June 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2019.

 ["Rhoda Billings Sworn In As State's New Chief Justice"](https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jr0sAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4BMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6603,685003&dq=rhoda+billings)
. _[Wilmington Morning Star](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star-News "Star-News")
_. September 4, 1986. p. 3C.

1. ↑ Mansell, Sarah (May 19, 2003). "WFUs retiring faculty recognized during commencement" . Wake Forest University News Service. Archived from the original on July 7, 2003. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
2. ↑ Gibbs, Ann (August 26, 2004). "Law School Faculty News" . Wake Forest University Law School. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
3. ↑ "Rhoda Jean Bryan Billings" . Miller Funeral Service. Retrieved December 31, 2025.

External links

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• NC Supreme Court Historical Society

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rhoda_Billings&oldid=1330376049 "

Categories :

• 1937 births

• 2025 deaths

• Wake Forest University School of Law alumni

• Wake Forest University faculty

• Chief justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court

• Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States

• People from Wilkesboro, North Carolina

• Constitution Project

• American women academics

• 21st-century American women

• 20th-century American women judges

• 20th-century North Carolina state court judges

• American state court judge stubs

• North Carolina stubs

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