He attended South Edgecombe High School in Pinetops, North Carolina, where he served as student body president.
Jim Hunt appointed Carlton as the first Secretary for the North Carolina Department of Crime Control.
He was then elected to the North Carolina Supreme Court and served as an associate justice until February, 1983 when he resigned to return to the private practice of law.
In 1983, he was a founding partner in the North Carolina law firm of Poyner & Spruill[1] until 1994 and practiced in the Raleigh, NC office.
According to the group's website, "he and 17 former state governors formed the organization in 1989 when he was a partner at North Carolina member firm Poyner & Spruill LLP.