Thirty-three states in the United States implemented eugenic sterilization laws during the 20th century, and an estimated 65,000 US residents underwent coerced sterilization via state policies. In North Carolina, 7,528 individuals were targeted for state-led sterilization between 1929 and 1974. The majority of these individuals were women, impoverished and officially classified as ‘feeble-minded’. We argue that the sterilizations constituted serious violations of human rights largely due to state exploitation of already marginalized people, lack of consent and limited due process that accompanied sterilization orders. In this article, we analyze textual data from state proceedings that focused on reparations, and find considerable power differentials that placed sterilization victims at the margins rather than at the centre of the reparation process.