Patricia Timmons-Goodson

Who is Patricia Timmons-Goodson?

Patricia 'Pat' Timmons-Goodson is an American judge who served as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. In 2014, President Barack Obama appointed her to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

Born in Florence, South Carolina, Timmons-Goodson, the daughter of a U.S. Army officer, was raised on military bases in the United States and Europe. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning an undergraduate degree in speech in 1976 and a law degree in 1979. In 2014, she received a Master of Judicial Studies degree from the Duke University Law School.

She worked as a prosecutor and as a private attorney in Fayetteville until she was named a District Court judge in 1984; Timmons-Goodson 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 Gov. 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 Judge Timmons-Goodson to the North Carolina Supreme Court to take the place of Associate Justice Sarah Parker.