Supreme Court of Georgia (U.S. state)

Supreme Court of Georgia
Seal of the Supreme Court
Established	1841
Location	Atlanta, Georgia
Composition method	Non-partisan statewide election
Authorised by	Georgia Constitution
Appeals to	Supreme Court of the United States
Website	Official website
Chief Justice
Currently	Harold Melton
Since	September 4, 2018

This article is about the highest court of the U.S. state of Georgia. For the highest court of the country of Georgia, see Supreme Court of Georgia (country).

The Supreme Court of Georgia is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Georgia. The court was established in 1845 as a three-member panel. Since 1896, the justices (increased in number to six, then to seven in 1945, and finally to nine in 2017) have been elected by the people of the state. The justices are currently elected in statewide non-partisan elections for six-year terms, with any vacancies filled through an appointment by the Governor.

The first Chief Justice of the Court was Joseph Henry Lumpkin, who was appointed to that position in 1863. Under the current Constitution of Georgia, the Chief Justice is designated as "the chief presiding and administrative officer of the court," and is elected by the justices. The justices also elect a Presiding Justice to serve if the Chief Justice is absent or is disqualified. As of 2018, the current Chief Justice of the Court is Harold Melton, and the current Presiding Justice is David Nahmias. Both justices were sworn into their respective positions on September 4, 2018.

History

Main article: History of Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia was established as a state under the federal Constitution in 1788. In the state's early days the justice system was set up so that matters of law were settled at a local level with no appellate courts. In 1799, the Judiciary Act stated that the judges of Georgia would meet annually and discuss any laws or rules that may have or would cause argument among the state. This allowed much of the laws and rules to be somewhat uniform across the state. This did not last long, however, as the General Assembly (state legislature) repealed that procedure in 1801, referring any arguments then-outstanding back to each county for decision by the local presiding judge.

From then, the judges of the superior courts (the general trial courts) began conferring informally on difficult points of law. When a group of superior court judges declared an act of the legislature unconstitutional, however, the legislature in 1815 disapproved even of this practice.

At that point, with no way of ensuring superior court decisions would be uniform throughout the state, several successive governors from the 1820s to 1840s urged the creation of a supreme court. In 1828, Governor John Forsyth complained that the then-eight superior court judges were not bound by precedent from either their predecessors not from a higher court. As a result, there was neither "uniformity nor certainty in the laws for the security of the rights of persons or property. . . . The confusion produced by contemporary contradictory decisions, everyday increases – property is held and recovered in one part, and lost in another part of the state under like circumstances – rights are asserted and maintained in one circuit, and denied in another, in analogous cases."

The state Constitution was finally amended in 1835 to authorize the establishment of a supreme court, but the court itself was not established by legislative act until 1845. The original court consisted of three justices: Joseph Henry Lumpkin as the presiding justice, Hiram Warner, and Eugenius A. Nisbet. Their salaries were $2,500 a year. The court held its first session in Talbotton, Georgia, on January 26, 1846, and held sessions by "riding circuit," that is, holding court at several locations throughout the superior court circuits of the state, traveling at their own expense.

Subsequent state constitutions and amendments have modified the composition and practice of the court. The 1865 Constitution, following the American Civil War, ended the practice of circuit-riding by providing that the court would sit in the state capital (today, Atlanta). An 1896 constitutional amendment expanded the court by three justices and provided for popular election of the justices. A seventh justice was added by an amendment in 1945. The current state constitution authorizes up to nine justices, and the eighth and ninth seats were created by the Appellate Jurisdiction Reform Act in 2016.

Justices

See also: List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Georgia (U.S. state)

Name	Year Appointed	Term expires	Chief Justice	Appointed by*	Law School
Harold Melton (Chief Justice)	2005	2018	2018–present	Sonny Perdue (R)	University of Georgia School of Law
David Nahmias (Presiding Justice)	2009	2022		Sonny Perdue (R)	Harvard Law School
Robert Benham	1989	2020	1995–2001	Joe Frank Harris (D)	University of Georgia School of Law
Carol W. Hunstein	1992	2018	2009–2013	Zell Miller (D)	Stetson University College of Law
Keith R. Blackwell	2012	2020		Nathan Deal (R)	University of Georgia School of Law
Michael P. Boggs	2017	2018		Nathan Deal (R)	Walter F. George School of Law
Nels S.D. Peterson	2017	2018		Nathan Deal (R)	Harvard Law School
Sarah Hawkins Warren	2018	2020		Nathan Deal (R)	Duke University School of Law
vacant (to succeed Harris Hines)

* While Supreme Court Justice is an elected position, each current justice (as of 2018) was initially appointed by a governor to fill a vacancy or a newly created seat. Some have since won re-election.

On September 14, 2018, Gov. Deal appointed Judge Charlie Bethel of the Georgia Court of Appeals to the vacancy created by the retirement of former Chief Justice Harris Hines.

Chief Justices

Main article: List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Georgia (U.S. state)

Name	Year Appointed	End Term
J.H. Lumpkin	1863	1867
Hiram Warner	1867, 1872	1868,1880
Jos. E. Brown	1868	1870
O. A. Lochrane	1871	1872
James Jackson	1880	1887
Logan E. Bleckley	1887	1894
T. J. Simmons	1894	1905
W. H. Fish	1905	1923
Richard B. Russell	1923	1938
Charles S. Reid	1938	1943
R. C. Bell	1943	1946
W. F. Jenkins	1946	1948
W. H. Duckworth	1948	1969
Bond Almand	1969	1972
Carlton Mobley	1972	1974
Benning M. Grice	1974	1975
H. E. Nichols	1975	1980
Hiram K. Undercofler	1980	1980
Robert H. Jordan	1980	1982
Harold N. Hill, Jr.	1982	1986
Thomas O. Marshall	1986	1989
Harold G. Clarke	1990	1992
Willis B. Hunt, Jr.	1994	1995
Robert Benham	1995	2001
Norman S. Fletcher	2001	2005
Leah Ward Sears	2005	2009
Carol W. Hunstein	2009	2012
George H. Carley	2012	2012
Carol W. Hunstein	2012	2013
Hugh P. Thompson	2013	2016
P. Harris Hines	2017	2018
Harold Melton	2018	incumbent

Jurisdiction

The Supreme Court of Georgia has the right and authority over every case that involves the review of select appellate jurisdiction. The cases in which it can perform rule over are the cases that bring in question of constitutionality of a law, constitutional arrangement, or mandate. Any election contest can be judged by the Supreme Court of Georgia and the cases it has appellate jurisdiction in are the following:

• Cases including wills;
• Cases of divorce and alimony;
• Equity cases;
• Habeas Corpus cases;
• Cases certified to it by the Court of Appeals;
• Title to land cases;
• Cases in which a death sentence could be charged or was charged; and
• Extraordinary remedies cases.

Each justice can create an opinion but it must be passed to the other justices, and after a discussion, depending on the majority, that opinion can be taken in or nulled. In the instance that any justice cannot serve in a case due to disqualification or any other reason, a judge can substitute has to be sent by the Court to take that place.

Courtroom Security

Courtroom security is provided by the Capitol Police Division of the Georgia State Patrol.

Bar Admissions

The Supreme Court of Georgia is unusual among state high courts in that, while it sets forth and implements the rules for admitting new lawyers to the state bar, it does not formally conduct the admissions. Instead, new lawyers are admitted to practice by taking an oath before a judge of one of the superior courts (that is, a local trial-level court).

The Office of Bar Admissions is an administrative arm of the Supreme Court that is responsible for implementing the rules for admission. That Office assists two separate boards appointed by the Supreme Court. The Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants handles "character and fitness" issues, inquiring into a candidate's "honesty, trustworthiness, diligence, [and] reliability" to determine fitness to practice law. The Board of Bar Examiners administers and grades the state's bar examination each February and July. Subject to educational and other criteria, the boards will certify for admission candidates who meet the character and fitness requirements and pass both the bar examination and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. Candidates may then obtain admission to the Bar by appearing in superior court, and then separately seek admission to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.

See also

• Fiat justitia ruat caelum ("let justice be done though the heavens fall"), the phrase engraved on the wall behind the bench in the Supreme Court of Georgia
• State Bar of Georgia
• Courts of Georgia
• Judiciary of Georgia
  • Georgia Court of Appeals
  • Georgia Superior Courts

Citations

• History of the Supreme Court of Georgia (accessed February 17, 2014)

Huebner, Timothy. The Southern Judicial Tradition: State Judges and Sectional Distinctiveness, 1790–1890. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1999.

• Supreme Court of Georgia Rules

Georgia, S. O. (2016). Rules. Retrieved April 20, 2017, from http://www.gasupreme.us/rules/

External links

• Official website