June Atkinson wasn't the only big winner today. Bob Orr also won.

Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice, is a student and teacher of North Carolina's constitution. He cited the constitution regularly last year when he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor. (During his run for governor, Orr offered his own plan for how the state's public schools should be governed.)

Orr, who runs the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, has sued the state over the lottery, tax-increment financing and tax incentives for Dell. None of those suits has been successful.

But Orr represented Atkinson, a Democrat, in her suit against Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue and the State Board of Education over who has the authority to run the state's public schools.

And, on Friday, he was on the winning side.