Georgia Supreme Court justice vacancy: Britt Grant (August 2018)

Grant Vacancy Georgia Supreme Court
Vacancy date
August 3, 2018
Vacancy status
Seat filled
Nomination date
August 22, 2018
Table of contents
Appointee candidates Selection process Noteworthy events Media coverage About Justice Grant
See also
Recent news External links Footnotes

Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Britt Grant left the Georgia Supreme Court after she was elevated to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Under Georgia law, if a vacancy appears on the supreme court, the position is filled by assisted appointment. The governor chooses an appointee from a list of qualified candidates compiled by the judicial nominating commission. If appointed, an interim judge must run in the next general election held at least six months after the appointment, and, if confirmed by voters, he or she may finish the rest of the predecessor's term.

Grant's replacement, Sarah Warren, was Gov. Nathan Deal's fourth nominee to the nine-member supreme court.

The appointee

Gov. Nathan Deal (R) appointed state Solicitor General Sarah Warren to the Georgia Supreme Court on August 22, 2018. Warren was sworn in September 17.

Warren earned bachelor's degrees, magna cum laude, in public policy and Spanish from Duke University and obtained a J.D., magna cum laude, from the Duke University School of Law.

Warren previously worked as deputy solicitor general and special counsel for water litigation in the Georgia Attorney General's office. Prior to joining the state Department of Law, she worked as a litigation partner for Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Washington, D.C. Before attending law school, Warren served as deputy press secretary for the White House Office of Management and Budget and worked on President George W. Bush’s debate prep team for his 2004 re-election campaign.

The selection process

Justices of the Georgia Supreme Court are selected primarily through nonpartisan elections, though interim vacancies are filled by assisted appointment. They serve six-year terms, after which they must run for re-election if they wish to retain their seats.

To serve on this court, a judge must be a resident of Georgia and admitted to practice law for at least seven years.

Appointee candidates and nominations

The state judicial nominating commission provided Gov. Nathan Deal (R) with a list of nine nominees to fill the vacancies on the Georgia Supreme Court resulting from Chief Justice Harris Hines' retirement and Justice Britt Grant's elevation to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

The list below was accurate at the time of the nominating commission's recommendations.

• Judge Jean-Paul Boulee: A judge of the 4th Superior Court District of Georgia. He was appointed by Gov. Deal on May 12, 2015. He earned a J.D. from the University of Georgia.

• Georgia State Senate Majority Leader Bill Cowsert (R-Athens): A Republican member of the Georgia State Senate, representing District 46. He was first elected to the chamber in 2006. He earned his J.D. from the University of Georgia.

• Judge Melanie Cross: A judge of the Tifton Judicial Circuit, Georgia. She joined the court in 2008. Prior to joining the court, she worked in private practice in Tifton. She received her J.D. from Mercer University.

• Judge Asha F. Jackson: A judge of the 4th Superior Court District of Georgia. She was first appointed to the court by Gov. Deal in February 2012 and won re-election in the general election on May 22, 2018. Jackson received her J.D. from Tulane Law School.

• Judge Tain Kell: A superior court judge of the Cobb Judicial Circuit, Georgia. He was appointed to this position by Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) on December 10, 2007. Prior to his appointment to the court, Kell was an attorney in private practice and in the Georgia attorney general's office. He obtained his J.D. from the University of Georgia.

• Judge Shawn LaGrua: A judge of the Fulton Judicial Circuit, Georgia. She was appointed by Gov. Perdue on December 29, 2009, and formally joined the court in 2010. Prior to her appointment to the court, LaGrua served as inspector general in the Georgia Secretary of State's office, DeKalb County solicitor general, and in various district attorney positions in Fulton and DeKalb counties. She received her J.D. from Georgia State University.

• Georgia Solicitor General Sarah Warren became the solicitor general in 2017 after serving as the deputy solicitor general for 18 months. Prior to joining the state Department of Law, Warren worked as a litigation partner for Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Washington, D.C. She clerked for Judge J.L. Edmondson of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and for the Honorable Richard Leon of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She obtained her J.D. from Duke University.

• Rep. Andrew Welch (R-McDonough): A Republican member of the Georgia House of Representatives, representing District 110. He was first elected to the chamber in 2010. Welch's professional experience includes working as a partner at Smith, Welch & Britain LLP.

• Judge Paige Whitaker: A judge of the 5th Superior Court District of Georgia. She was appointed to the court by Gov. Deal on February 7, 2017. She was an assistant district attorney in Fulton County from 2010 until her judicial appointment. Whitaker earned her J.D. from Duke University.

Noteworthy events

Both Britt Grant and Sarah Warren grew up in Atlanta and attended The Westminster Schools, worked in the administration of President George W. Bush, were attorneys for Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Washington, D.C., and served as the state solicitor general. At the time of their respective appointments, they were also both members of the Federalist Society.

Media coverage

This section provides an overview of media coverage of the vacancy from within Georgia and across the country. Selected articles are presented as a jumping-off point for deeper exploration of media coverage and as an overview of narratives emerged surrounding the vacancy.

• Prospective appointees: Articles discussing potential appointees to fill the vacancy.
• The retiring judge: Articles discussing the retiring judge and [HIS OR HER] impact on the court.-->

Appointee candidates and nominations

• Katheryn Tucker, Daily Report, (August 6, 2018):

“

J.P. Boulee has an advantage on the short list of Georgia Supreme Court candidates: He’s been chosen by Gov. Nathan Deal before. ... A stack of letters recommending Boulee praised him for starting and presiding over a veterans’ court that helps servicemen and servicewomen who’ve been arrested by offering counseling, treatment and mentoring.

”

Boulee received recommendations from Chief Justice Harris Hines; Chairman Frank Strickland and President Anne Lewis of the Atlanta lawyers chapter of the Federalist Society; Georgia-Pacific General Counsel Tye Darland, citing what he called Boulee's "constitutional originalism beliefs"; and DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond.

• Katheryn Tucker, Daily Report, (August 6, 2018):

Judge Cross received recommendations from her former law partner of 20 years, Ralph Simpson of Simpson Law & Mediation.

In her application, Cross said she had been overruled by the state supreme court and learned from the experience. She was referring to the case of Ryan Duke, accused of killing high school history teacher Tara Grinstead, in 2006. Cross placed a gag order on those involved in the trial. The order was overturned by the state supreme court.

• Katheryn Tucker, Daily Report, (August 6, 2018):

Judge Kell received a recommendation from Robert Ingram of Moore Ingram Johnson & Steele in Marietta. "In a letter of recommendation, Ingram called Kell a 'seasoned trial lawyer' and a 'brilliant conservative jurist who works hard to get the right result.' Ingram also praised Kell for recognizing the 'limitations to his judicial authority' and said he 'understands the need for judges to interpret the law as written and not as he wishes it was written.'"

Kell is on the board of advisers for the Federalist Society. He previously served on the sentencing committee for the Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform.

About Justice Grant

Judge Grant is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. She joined the court in 2018 after being nominated by Republican President Donald Trump.

Grant was previously a judge of the Georgia Supreme Court in Georgia from 2017 to 2018. She was appointed to the court by Republican Governor Nathan Deal.

Grant was included on President Donald Trump’s (R) June 2018 list of 25 potential Supreme Court nominees to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the court. Trump first released such a list during his 2016 presidential campaign and stated, “This list is definitive and I will choose only from it in picking future Justices of the United States Supreme Court.”

See also

Georgia	Judicial Selection	More Courts
Courts in Georgia Georgia Court of Appeals Georgia Supreme Court	Elections: 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in Georgia	Federal courts State courts Local courts

External links

• Georgia Supreme Court

Footnotes

Georgia courts

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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