Atlanta's top federal prosecutor, state court judges and two district attorneys are among those nominated so far to succeed Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears.
Sears is leaving the court on June 30 to join a law firm, work at a think tank and teach a course at the University of Georgia law school. By law, Gov. Sonny Perdue gets to fill the state high court vacancy.
Nominations for Sears' position are to be submitted to the state Judicial Nominating Commission by June 4. The panel will interview the nominees in late June and then send a short list of up to five nominees to the governor.
David Nahmias, a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia who once supervised terrorism investigations at the U.S. Justice Department, was named U.S. attorney in Atlanta by President George W. Bush in 2004. He is expected to be replaced soon by an appointee of President Barack Obama.
Superior Court nominees for the state Supreme Court bench are Gwinnett County Judge William Ray, Cobb County Judge Mary Staley, Fulton County Judge Craig Schwall, Henry County Judge Benjamin Studdard and Samuel Ozburn, who presides over cases in Newton and Walton counties. Prosecutors nominated so far are Cobb County DA Pat Head and Douglas County DA David McDade.
Other nominees are: state transportation board member Steve Farrow; state Board of Pardons and Paroles member Garfield Hunt; Wilson DuBose, chairman of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council; Thomas Harper, founding partner of an Atlanta insurance defense firm; and Atlanta lawyer James P. Kelly, director of international affairs for the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
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