Gov. Nathan Deal has appointed a commission that will review his proposal to add two justices to the Georgia Supreme Court, a plan that could give the Republican the chance to potentially appoint a majority of the justices to the powerful court's bench before he leaves office.
Deal said Monday that the Appellate Jurisdiction Review Commission will consider whether to add two justices to the seven-member court. The recommendations are expected to be finalized weeks before lawmakers return to Atlanta for another legislative session.
"As our state continues to grow, the demands of the court also grow. And we have to keep up with that," he said. "And I believe that will be one of the things we at least should consider as part of our overall criminal justice reform."
Earlier this year, Deal won legislative approval for an expansion of the Georgia Court of Appeals from 12 to 15. More than 100 applicants sought the positions, and the Judicial Nominating Commission has whittled the list down to 42 finalists.
Increasing the number of judges on Georgia's Supreme Court is likely to be a tougher fight. Critics are likely to raise the specter of a chief executive "packing" the court, much like the pushback that stymied Franklin Roosevelt's attempt to expand the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1930s.
The proposal's supporters may try to smooth the way by striking a compromise with the judicial branch that could involve a new judicial building and a plan to shift more of the cases that would now be heard by the Georgia Supreme Court to a lower court.
The governor has already remade Georgia's judiciary by stocking the courts with more than 60 new judges who have been vetted by Deal and his closest aides. But he has so far left only a minimal mark on the Georgia Supreme Court, which has the final say on many of the state's most controversial legal issues.
The governor's sole appointment to the Supreme Court's bench so far is Keith Blackwell, who was tapped in June 2012. But a court spokeswoman has said two of the court's six other judges, Chief Justice Hugh Thompson and Presiding Justice Harris Hines, plan to retire before Deal's tenure is up.
Adding two more judges the bench could give Deal the chance to appoint five of the Georgia Supreme Court's nine justices - giving him a majority of the court's appointments and a chance to expand his imprint on the state's legal system far beyond his eight years in office.
Deal, for now, said he would await the recommendations of the 12-member commission he appointed last week. The commission includes Blackwell and fellow Supreme Court Justice David Nahmias, Deal executive counsel Ryan Teague and former Deal aide Thomas Worthy.
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