Georgia justice has two challengers

In little more than a year on the bench, David Nahmias has tilted the ideological leanings of the Georgia Supreme Court decidedly to the right.

A reliably conservative vote, Nahmias replaced the court's most liberal member, Leah Ward Sears, the former chief justice who resigned before her term expired. Gov. Sonny Perdue made the appointment after receiving glowing recommendations in support of Nahmias from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia.

Nahmias must now stand for election, and he has two lawyers seeking to unseat him. One of the challengers, Atlanta lawyer Matt Wilson, is waging an aggressive campaign, criticizing Nahmias for some of his votes; the other, Lawrenceville lawyer Tamela Adkins, has chosen to not campaign at all.

Nahmias, 46, touts his experience as a federal prosecutor, his tenure at the U.S. Justice Department and his time on the court. "We're confident that as long as people pay attention to the qualifications of the candidates, we have a good shot," he said in a recent interview. "But you can't take anything for granted in this election."

As a justice, Nahmias (pronounced NAH-mee-iss) has been in the majority of a number of high-profile 4-3 decisions. He has also changed the court’s dynamics, at times dominating oral arguments by asking so many questions that lawyers run out of time before they finish making their case.

After joining the court, Nahmias suspected he could face opposition, so he quickly nailed down the endorsements of some of the most prominent members of the state’s legal community. Among his supporters are Sears; former state Attorney General Mike Bowers; former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Larry Thompson; and past and current presidents of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.

"I have support from both conservatives and liberals," Nahmias said. "People know I'll give them a fair hearing and will follow the law without putting my thumb on the scale in any direction."

Adkins, 47, said she hopes the nation's anti-incumbent mood will catch hold in Georgia, including the race for Supreme Court justice.

Two years ago, the Lawrenceville lawyer narrowly missed getting into a runoff for a vacant seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals. She finished third in a seven-candidate field, less than 2 percentage points out of second.

In 2008, Adkins pretty much shut down her law practice that specializes in family law to campaign. This year, she continues working full time and is not out stumping or soliciting campaign donations. She also changed her name on the ballot -- in 2008, it was Tamela, this year it’s Tammy Lynn.

Adkins said she is running because she has a different legal ideology than Nahmias and believes her extensive trial experience makes her well-qualified to be a justice.

“I have had so much experience in the courtroom -- I’ve tried thousands of cases,” she said. “It’s the best quality you can have to be on an appellate-level court.”

The other challenger, Wilson, said he is running because Nahmias “is so obviously the wrong person for this job.”

Wilson said Nahmias aligns his judicial philosophy with archconservative justices, such as Scalia, for whom Nahmias once served as a law clerk. If elected, Wilson said, he would be far more moderate.

Wilson criticizes Nahmias' votes in a number of key decisions. This includes Nahmias' vote as part of a 4-3 majority to uphold a provision of the state’s tort reform law involving emergency room care. Plaintiffs lawyers maintain the law erected an insurmountable legal threshold to clear for patients injured by malpractice in an ER.

“Everybody in the state of Georgia will suffer because of that decision,” Wilson said. “The standard of ER care will decline.”

Wilson denounced two other 4-3 opinions written this year by Nahmias -- one in favor of an insurance company in an automobile liability case and the other in favor of a trucker, his company and the firm's insurance company in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Too often, Wilson said, Nahmias casts votes in decisions that prevent a plaintiff's case from reaching a jury. "Juries are appropriate," Wilson said. "Judges should not be afraid of them."

Wilson, 59, also said he believes Nahmias considers his position on the state Supreme Court a “chair-warming operation until he’s appointed by a Republican president to the federal court bench.”

Nahmias said that is not true. "I have no expectation I'll be moving from this job unless it's leaving it at the end of my legal career," he said. "I like the work a lot."

As for Wilson's attacks on his votes in particular cases, Nahmias said, "It's very dangerous to say how you would vote in a case when you haven't reviewed the facts, heard the arguments, researched the law and heard your colleagues' viewpoints."

Candidates' biographies

Tammy Lynn Adkins

Age: 47

College: Meredith College

Law school: University of Bridgeport

Professional: Adkins Law, a family law practice in Lawrenceville

Campaign website: none

Cash raised: None

Cash on hand: None

David Nahmias (incumbent)

Age: 46

College: Duke University (summa cum laude)

Law school: Harvard (magna cum laude)

Professional: Former law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; lawyer with Hogan & Hartson in Washington; assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta; U.S. Justice Department in Washington; U.S. attorney in Atlanta, 2004-2009.

Campaign website: www.justicenahmias.com/index.php

Cash raised: $150,899

Cash on hand: $100,313

Matt Wilson

Age: 59

College: University of California at Berkeley

Law School: American University