Leah Ward Sears
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Leah Ward Sears is the Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. She has served on the court since 1992 when she was first appointed by then-governor Zell Miller, a Democrat. Sears became the court's chief justice in June 2005. She has announced her plan to retire from the court in June 2009.[1]
Justice Sears has been mentioned as a possible Barack Obama nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court[2]
Justice Sears has a distinguished position in Georgia's history. She was the first African-American woman to serve as Superior Court Judge in Georgia. When appointed by the Governor of Georgia in February, she became the first woman and the youngest person ever to serve on Georgia's Supreme Court. Also, in retaining her appointed position as a Supreme Court Justice, Justice Sears became the first woman to win a contested state-wide election in Georgia.
Legal background
Sears is a 1976 graduate of Cornell University (B.S. Degree); a 1980 graduate of Emory University School of Law (J.D. Degree); and a 1995 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law (LL.M Degree). She also has engaged in extensive studies at the National Judicial College. Prior to becoming a judge, she was an attorney with the law firm of Alston & Bird. In 1993, Justice Sears received the honorary Doctor of Law degree from Morehouse College.
Associations
Justice Sears' professional and civil affiliations are varied and numerous. The Justice is past Chair of the American Bar Association's Board of Elections. She is also the immediate past Chair of the Judicial Section of the Atlanta Bar Association, and she also served as Chair of the Atlanta Bar's Minority Clerkship Program. Justice Sears founded and served as the first president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys. Chief Justice Sears serves on the Board of Directors of the Morehouse School of Medicine Center for Child Abuse & Neglect, the Board of Visitors of Mercer Law School, the Sadie G. Mays Nursing Home, the Georgia Chapter of the National Council of Christians and Jews, and she is a board member for Mission New Hope, a metropolitan Atlanta area substance abuse coalition. Justice Sears serves on the Cornell University Women's Council, the steering Committee for Georgia Women's History Month, and the Children's Defense Fund's Black Community Crusade for Children. In addition, Chief Justice Sears founded the Battered Women's Project in Columbus, Georgia.
Justice Sears is also a member of the Atlanta Chapter of Links, Inc., and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. The Justice is a member of the American, Georgia, Gate City, Atlanta, and National Bar Associations.
Accolades
Emory University has honored Justice Sears as an "Outstanding Young Alumna" and as the Barkley Forum "Georgia Speaker of the Year". Georgia Trend magazine has honored Justice Sears as one of the "100 Most Influential Georgians," and in 1993 Business Atlanta magazine named her as one of the "Under Forty and on the Fast Track." In 1992, she received the "Margaret Brent Woman Lawyer of Achievement" award from the American Bar Association, the "Drum Major for Justice" award presented by SCLC Women during Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Week, and she was honored as an "Atlantan on the Move" by 100 Black Men of Atlanta. Also in 1992, Justice Sears received the "Excellence in Public Service" award from the Georgia Coalition of Black Women, and she was named by the YWCA of Greater Atlanta as one of its ten "Outstanding Women of Achievement." In addition, the Justice has written several articles regarding the legal profession which have been published.
2004 election campaign
In 2004, Justice Sears ran for re-election against challenger Grant Brantley. During the election campaign, Sears was characterized by conservative opponents as an activist judge.[3]
Her campaign spent $553,666 and his spent $264,535.[4]
- Sears: 745,011, or 62.3%
- Brantley: 451,320, or 37.7%[5]
The Sears-Brantley election contest was the first in the state to be conducted under rules that allow opposing candidates to discuss legal issues and each other's records. Until 2004, a restriction existed that forbade discussion of candidates' records or other issues. George Weaver, who tried unsuccessfully to unseat Sears in 1998, brought a successful lawsuit to end that restriction.[3]
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