High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Supreme Court of North Carolina is the state`s highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state`s only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists of six associate justices and one chief justice, although the number of justices has varied from time to time. The primary function of the Supreme Court is to decide questions of law that have arisen in the lower courts and before state administrative agencies.