Georgia Supreme Court elections, 2022
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The terms of three Georgia Supreme Court justices expired on December 31, 2022. The three seats were up for nonpartisan election on May 24, 2022.
Chief Justice David Nahmias' term was originally set to expire on December 31, 2022. Nahmias announced that he would retire on July 17, 2022, allowing Governor Brian Kemp (R) to appoint a successor.
Georgia was one of 30 states that held elections for state supreme court in 2022. That year, 84 of the 344 seats on state supreme courts were up for election. Of those, 64 were held by nonpartisan justices, 13 were held by Republican justices, and eight were held by Democratic justices. For more on the partisan affiliation of state supreme court justices, click here. For an overview of state supreme court elections in 2022, click here.
Candidates and election results
Colvin's seat
General election
Special general election for Georgia Supreme Court
Incumbent Verda Colvin defeated Veronica Brinson in the special general election for Georgia Supreme Court on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Verda Colvin (Nonpartisan) | 68.3 | 1,168,175 |
| Veronica Brinson (Nonpartisan) | 31.7 | 541,628 | ||
| Total votes: 1,709,803 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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LaGrua's seat
General election
General election for Georgia Supreme Court
Incumbent Shawn Ellen LaGrua won election in the general election for Georgia Supreme Court on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Shawn Ellen LaGrua (Nonpartisan) | 100.0 | 1,623,542 |
| Total votes: 1,623,542 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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McMillian's seat
General election
General election for Georgia Supreme Court
Incumbent Carla W. McMillian won election in the general election for Georgia Supreme Court on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Carla W. McMillian (Nonpartisan) | 100.0 | 1,626,408 |
| Total votes: 1,626,408 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Voting information
- See also: Voting in Georgia
About the Georgia Supreme Court
- See also: Georgia Supreme Court
This 1983 Georgia Constitution gives the Georgia Supreme Court exclusive appellate jurisdiction over constitutional cases and election contest cases. The court also has general appellate jurisdiction over land title, will and equity cases, divorce and alimony cases, certified cases, death penalty cases, and writs of habeas corupus or certiorari. The court may also exercise jurisdiction over Georgia Court of Appeals cases found to be of great public importance.[1]
Political composition
This was the political composition of the supreme court heading into the 2022 election.
| ■ John Ellington | Elected in 2018 | |
| ■ Verda Colvin | Appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R) in 2021 | |
| ■ Andrew Pinson | Appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R) in 2022 | |
| ■ Michael P. Boggs | Appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal (R) in 2016; elected in 2018 | |
| ■ Shawn LaGrua | Appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R) in 2020 | |
| ■ Nels Peterson | Appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal (R) in 2016; elected in 2018 | |
| ■ Sarah Warren | Appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal (R) in 2018; elected in 2020 | |
| ■ Charlie Bethel | Appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal (R) in 2018, elected in 2020 | |
| ■ Carla W. McMillian | Appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R) in 2020 |
Selection
- See also: Judicial selection in Georgia
There are nine justices on the Georgia Supreme Court, each chosen by popular vote in nonpartisan elections. They serve six-year terms, after which they must run for re-election if they wish to retain their seats.[2]
The chief justice is selected by peer vote and serves in that capacity for four years.[2]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters (2021)
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters, a study on how state supreme court justices decided the cases that came before them. Our goal was to determine which justices ruled together most often, which frequently dissented, and which courts featured the most unanimous or contentious decisions.
The study tracked the position taken by each state supreme court justice in every case they decided in 2020, then tallied the number of times the justices on the court ruled together. We identified the following types of justices:
- We considered two justices opinion partners if they frequently concurred or dissented together throughout the year.
- We considered justices a dissenting minority if they frequently opposed decisions together as a -1 minority.
- We considered a group of justices a determining majority if they frequently determined cases by a +1 majority throughout the year.
- We considered a justice a lone dissenter if he or she frequently dissented alone in cases throughout the year.
Summary of cases decided in 2020
- Number of justices: 9
- Number of cases: 347
- Percentage of cases with a unanimous ruling: 96.3% (334)
- Justice most often writing the majority opinion: Justice John Ellingtin (38)
- Per curiam decisions: 35
- Concurring opinions: 12
- Justice with most concurring opinions: Justice Keith Blackwell (4)
- Dissenting opinions: 11
- Justice with most dissenting opinions: Justices Charlie Bethel and Harold Melton ((3))
For the study's full set of findings in Georgia, click here.
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
- See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation, based on a variety of factors. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on the political or ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. To arrive at confidence scores we analyzed each justice's past partisan activity by collecting data on campaign finance, past political positions, party registration history, as well as other factors. The five categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[3]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
We used the Confidence Scores of each justice to develop a Court Balance Score, which attempted to show the balance among justices with Democratic, Republican, and Indeterminate Confidence Scores on a court. Courts with higher positive Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Republican Confidence Scores, while courts with lower negative Court Balance Scores included justices with higher Democratic Confidence Scores. Courts closest to zero either had justices with conflicting partisanship or justices with Indeterminate Confidence Scores.[4]
Georgia had a Court Balance Score of 6.78, indicating Republican control of the court. In total, the study found that there were 15 states with Democrat-controlled courts, 27 states with Republican-controlled courts, and eight states with Split courts. The map below shows the court balance score of each state.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Georgia Supreme Court Official Site
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Georgia," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ The Court Balance Score is calculated by finding the average partisan Confidence Score of all justices on a state supreme court. For example, if a state has justices on the state supreme court with Confidence Scores of 4, -2, 2, 14, -2, 3, and 4, the Court Balance is the average of those scores: 3.3. Therefore, the Confidence Score on the court is Mild Republican. The use of positive and negative numbers in presenting both Confidence Scores and Court Balance Scores should not be understood to that either a Republican or Democratic score is positive or negative. The numerical values represent their distance from zero, not whether one score is better or worse than another.
Federal courts:
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Middle District of Georgia, Northern District of Georgia, Southern District of Georgia • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Middle District of Georgia, Northern District of Georgia, Southern District of Georgia
State courts:
Georgia Supreme Court • Georgia Court of Appeals • Georgia Superior Courts • Georgia State Courts • Georgia Business Court • Georgia Tax Court • Georgia Juvenile Courts • Georgia Probate Courts • Georgia Magistrate Courts • Georgia Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Georgia • Georgia judicial elections • Judicial selection in Georgia
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