By Barbara Deas
Guest Writer
A large crowd of family, friends and associates gathered on Wednesday, May 1 at the Clay County Courthouse to witness Judge Tessa Shelton Sellers take the oath of office and accept the position of Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for North Carolina District 43A, which encompasses the counties of Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Macon and Swain.
Sellers’ installment as a member of the North Carolina Superior Court marks the first time a Clay County native and/or resident, male or female, has held this esteemed position. In addition only a limited number of women have attained the position of Superior Court Judge in North Carolina with the first being Judge Susie Sharp in 1949.
Sellers is the daughter of Charlie and Denise Shelton. She grew up in Clay County and is a graduate of Hayesville High School. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Mars Hill College and her Juris Doctor from Campbell University’s Norman A. Wiggins School of Law.
Judge Brad Letts, Superior Court Judge for NC District 30B, presided over Wednesday’s ceremony. He opened with remarks about Sellers, stating, “Judge Sellers possesses the strength of character, the focus of mind and the confidence of her convictions to always act in the manner she determines to be correct. Her fortitude embodies within her the ability to decide the difficult decisions she will be called up to make. In so doing, her resolve and innate courage will allow her to withstand the critiques of others, be they ground in good faith or not, which in this position necessarily follow.”
Letts continued, “As the ceremony unfolds, I ask that in your own way you also participate in the administration of the oath of office. When you hear the words ‘I will administer justice without favoritism to anyone or to the state’ let the weight of such an undertaking sit with you. Understand that in taking this oath, Judge Sellers on your behalf, and on the behalf of all our citizens, accepts this awesome responsibility.”
The oath of office was administered by the Honorable Willis Whichard, a former North Carolina State Representative and Senator, N.C. Supreme Court Justice and Dean of Campbell University School of Law. Justice Whichard recounted meeting Sellers for the first time when she interviewed for admission into Campbell University Law School and expressed his pride in her as his student and as he has been called upon in each step of her career to administer her oaths of office.
Surrounded by her husband, Joe Jack Sellers and her sons, Jackson and Rhett, Sellers placed her right hand on the Bible as she responded “I do” to the oath to accept and uphold the responsibilities of her new position. Prior to being selected by Gov. Roy Cooper to fill this Superior Court Judgeship, Sellers served as an Assistant District Attorney in North Carolina’s 30th Prosecutorial District and as a general practitioner in private practice. For the past decade, Sellers served as a District Court Judge in North Carolina’s 43rd Judicial District.
Immediately following the ceremony, a reception was held in the Courthouse Multi-Purpose room. Sellers’ appointment to this position fills the vacancy for the time remaining prior to the November election. In November, she will appear on the General Election ballot running unopposed for this position, establishing her first full eight year elected term of office as Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for North Carolina District 43A.