Higgins served in both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly before being appointed U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1934–1947). In 1946 he became a prosecutor for the war crimes trials in Japan. Higgins later served as an Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (1954–1974). He is among the longest-serving justices in the history of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Upon his retirement from the Court, he joined the law firm of Tharrington Smith, co-founded by his former law clerk, Wade Smith. He remained with the Raleigh-based firm until his death in 1980.