Jurist may be on Obama's list

Sears, chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, has declined to comment on speculation she could be considered by President Barack Obama as a high court nominee.

But in an interview last year, when her name surfaced as a potential nominee for the next vacancy, Sears said, "I like being thought of, because that means I'm being well thought of."

During the Clinton administration, Sears was considered for a seat on the federal appeals court in Atlanta. In an interview years ago, she said she would like to sit as a justice on the nation's highest court someday.

Legal experts say Sears has the kind of resume that should put her on any short list of potential nominees. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post have all listed Sears among the candidates to replace Souter, though not necessarily as the favorite.

She has long been a member of the Georgia court's liberal wing —- much as Souter has been at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Since becoming a state court judge two decades ago, Sears has seemed to have a target on her back. She prevailed in four rough-and-tumble re-election campaigns —- all against male challengers. After one particularly tough campaign, she was fined for violating state ethics laws.

Throughout her career, Sears, 53, has broken numerous racial and gender barriers. She is well liked by her colleagues on the bench and highly regarded for her work ethic, no doubt inherited from her late father, a stern taskmaster who served as a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel.

"She's a trailblazer," Atlanta lawyer Linda Klein said. "She's a role model to many women lawyers and non-lawyers. Of course, she deserves consideration."

In 1989, when appointed to the Fulton County bench, Sears became the first African-American woman to sit as a Superior Court judge in Georgia. When appointed by Gov. Zell Miller in 1992 to the state Supreme Court, she was the first woman and youngest person ever to sit on the court.

In 1995, Sears became the nation's first black woman to preside over a state Supreme Court.

Christopher Eisgruber, provost at Princeton University, predicts Obama will diversify the court by appointing women and minorities. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 76, is the court's lone female justice.

"It's an embarrassment right now we have only one female justice," said Eisgruber, author of "The Next Justice: Repairing the Supreme Court Appointments Process." Sears, he added, is a "plausible candidate."

Prominent women named by legal experts as leading contenders for Souter's seat are federal appeals court judges Sonia Sotomayor of New York and Diane Wood of Chicago, as well as Solicitor General Elena Kagan, former dean of Harvard Law School.

As a Georgia justice, Sears has almost always been with the majority on cases that expanded individual liberties. She criticized Georgia's electric chair as being cruel and unusual punishment long before the Legislature changed the method of execution to lethal injection.

Last year, Sears issued a scathing dissent in a 4-3 ruling upholding Troy Anthony Davis's death sentence for killing a Savannah police officer. Key prosecution witnesses have recanted their testimony since the 1991 trial.

"If recantation testimony, either alone or supported by other evidence, shows convincingly that prior trial testimony was false, it simply defies logic and morality to hold that it must be disregarded categorically," Sears wrote. She said a judge should consider the new evidence.

Randy Evans, legal counsel of the state Republican Party, said that, intellectually and philosophically, Sears fits the bill for an Obama nominee.

But Evans said Sears may not pass the White House vetting process because she violated state campaign laws during her successful 2004 re-election campaign.

In 2007, Sears paid $3,100 in fines for accepting campaign contributions greater than the legal limit and failing to correctly report contributions.

She won the contentious, non-partisan race against a former Cobb County judge Grant Brantley, who had the backing of Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue.

"Out of the box, I think the Obama Administration will want someone with a spotless record, so the nomination comes down to a debate on philosophy," Evans said.

Last year, Sears irritated state Democrats. She announced she was stepping down from the Georgia Supreme Court when her term as chief justice expires at the end of June, even though her term on the court runs through the end of 2010. This lets Perdue name her successor.

Sears said it was her plan all along to leave when her term as chief justice ended. She expressed confidence Perdue would name a "fitting" successor.

Atlanta lawyer Jeff Bramlett, president of the State Bar of Georgia, said the state's legal community is proud of Sears' performance on the bench.

With two decades' experience in a state judiciary, Sears would bring important perspective to the high court, Bramlett said. He noted that all nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court were judges on the federal courts of appeals.

"The U.S. Supreme Court would be well served by having someone with extensive experience in the state judiciary, so I think she'd be a great choice," Bramlett said. "But, obviously, that's a decision for the White House and the U.S. Senate."