Former N.C. Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr. told business leaders today that while state government is in a budget crisis now, the state judicial system has been in a severe financial crisis for decades.

"This is due entirely to a protracted, gross, and yes, unconstitutional underfunding of our Judicial System by our Legislature," Lake told the Triangle Business Leader Associates at the Sheraton Hotel.

He said the judicial branch's share of government spending has declined from 2.8 percent to 2.1 percent of overall state spending since he stepped down as chief justice in 2006. The signs of the system fraying are everywhere, he said, reports Rob Christensen.

Lake voiced support for a new law, that would give the judicial branch new authority to set its own priority in how it spends the available funds.

"A national survey recently conducted reveals no other state in which the court system’s budget is restricted the way it is in North Carolina," said Lake.

Former Gov. Mike Easley inducted more than 4,000 North Carolinians.

Between January 2001 and January 2009, the two-term Democratic governor added state residents into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine at a rate of nearly 10 a week, or more than one a day.

Notable recipients included former U.S. Attorney Janice McKenzie Cole, Broadway costumer designer William Ivey Long, architectural historian Catherine Bishir, Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts and painter Bob Timberlake.

A number of politicians also made the list: former state Sen. Aaron Plyler, former state Rep. Zeno Edwards Jr., former UNC system president Bill Friday, Supreme Court Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson, former Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr., former Wake County Commissioner Betty Ann Knudsen, Charlotte City Councilwoman Susan Burgess and former Wendell Mayor Lucius Jones.

A few on the list are not North Carolinians: civil rights advocate Coretta Scott King, actor Danny Glover and Navy aerobatic pilots the Blue Angels.

Also on the list: his in-laws, Ann and James Pipines, fundraiser Louis Sewell, and several members of his Cabinet. The list does not include Robert Lee Guy, however.

See anyone else interesting on the list? Post in the comments below or e-mail dome@newsobserver.com.

After the jump, the number given each year.

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I. Beverly Lake Jr. has joined the Shanahan Law Group.

The former chief justice of the state Supreme Court will be a senior counsel at the Raleigh law firm, handling general corporate representation as well as litigation and appellate cases.

"Justice Lake is widely respected in legal, political and business circles throughout our state, and we are fortunate to have him on our team," said firm founder Kieran Shanahan.

A graduate of Wake Forest University's law school, Lake served two terms in the state Senate, ran for governor as the Republican nominee in 1980 and served on the Supreme Court from 1992 to 2006, when he was required to step down because of his age.