Georgia voters get to pick their state Supreme Court justices — except when they don't.
Candidates were lining up to compete for a seat on the high court’s bench held by Justice Robert Benham, who was set to retire when his six-year term expired at the end of 2020.
Running were former U.S. Rep. John Barrow, a Democrat; ex-state Rep. Beth Beskin, a Republican; Appeals Court Judge Sara Doyle; and Superior Court Judge Horace Johnson of the Alcovy Circuit, which covers Newton and Walton counties.
But then Benham opted to step down early on March 1, creating a bit of political push-me, pull-you: Because of the timing, moving up the justice’s departure shifted the election forward two years to 2022.
Now, the job of filling the void belongs to Gov. Brian Kemp, who should be getting used to tapping people to replace other people.
Benham holds a special place in Georgia history: He became the first African American to serve on the state Supreme Court.
Even now, only one other African American sits on the high court: Chief Justice Harold Melton.
Will that influence how Kemp picks Benham’s successor? Hard to say.
But he has shown a penchant for making the unconventional choice. He appointed the state's first Hispanic constitutional officer when he tapped Doraville Police Chief John King to become the state's acting insurance commissioner. He picked the first African American woman to serve as Cobb County's top prosecutor. He pored through more than 500 applications, taking a pass on a number of big names in Georgia politics to pick only the second woman to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate.
If Kemp decides to preserve the level of African American representation on the court, an option is Johnson, who said he intends to apply to the Judicial Nominating Commission for Benham’s post.
Another potential pick would be Tabitha Ponder Beckford, a former public defender now running for the state Court of Appeals.
Should the governor choose to boost representation of another minority group, Appeals Court Judge Carla Wong McMillian is a possibility.
There is currently only one woman on the court.
Pact backing: Count U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath as a supporter of the new North American trade deal.
President Donald Trump and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this past week put the finishing touches on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement.
McBath put out a statement that pointed to support for the deal among both the business community and labor unions, and she said companies in the 6th Congressional District urged her to back the measure.
“Since coming to Congress, I have heard from business owners across the 6th District who have been asking for a trade agreement that strengthens our economy and protects hard-working Americans,” the Marietta Democrat said.
Kemp, U.S. Sen. David Perdue and other Republicans also like the deal. Perdue told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the agreement would boost the U.S.’ gross domestic product by about $68 billion and add 180,000 jobs. He added that it would strengthen the country’s position in negotiating its trade relationship with China.
But the deal doesn’t please everybody in Georgia.
Fruit and vegetable growers, for example, say the new agreement doesn’t provide enough protection against Mexican imports priced lower than their products.
For McBath, a Democrat representing what had been a Republican stronghold for decades, the deal gives her a chance to back one of Trump’s big priorities even while she also supports his impeachment.
This past week, McBath made her strongest statement on impeachment.
“I am greatly saddened by what we have learned, and I am forced to face a solemn conclusion,” McBath said as she and others on the House Judiciary Committee held a mark-up session on the articles of impeachment against Trump. “I believe the president abused the power of his office, putting his own interests above the needs of our nation.”
Impeachment and the trade pact have a connection.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., says the trade deal will sit on ice, going without a vote on ratification, until after an expected impeachment trial in January.
Or you could try this: During a recent appearance on "Fox News Sunday," former Democratic U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn responded to a question from Chris Wallace about impeachment by suggesting an alternative: censure.
“I’m concerned about the fact that the Republicans and Democrats are not coming together,” Nunn said. “The people have made up their mind long before the evidence has all been completed. And if you’re thinking about impeachment, you have to ask yourself, what happens if it goes to the Senate? If we don’t have Republicans on board, is it just going to wither away, is there going to be any condemnation?”
“Censure,” Nunn said, “can condemn the conduct without basically taking away the right of the American people to make the decision on who our leaders should be.”
Nunn said “we need to hear all the evidence,” but he left no doubt he thinks something improper happened.
“There was a very bad mistake made here in terms of basically extorting a foreign country with appropriated funds that had already been passed to help in a military emergency in exchange for going after a political opponent,” Nunn told Wallace.
“That’s a prima facie case,” Nunn added. “And it seems to me that kind of behavior at least has to be condemned.”
Wallace pointed out that neither the Democrats who are pursuing impeachment nor Trump appears to favor censure as a option.
“Maybe the fact that all parties are against it means it’s the right way to go,” Nunn said.
He remains a fan: Chris Wray still has Perdue at his side — at least figuratively.
Perdue sat next to Wray at his Senate confirmation hearing in 2017 when President Donald Trump nominated the Atlanta attorney to head the FBI.
Now, the president is aiming fire at Wray after he endorsed an inspector general's finding that justified the FBI's investigation into Russian efforts on Trump's behalf during the 2016 election.
Wray went a little further, saying his agency had “no information that indicates that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election,” running counter to a conspiracy theory that Trump embraced.
At a rally this past week in Pennsylvania, Trump said, “You have great people in the FBI, but not in leadership.”
Politico reports that several Republican senators have since mounted a defense of Wray.
“Given that the FBI has had three directors since Trump took office,” Politico wrote, “Republicans are not exactly eager to replace Wray and create more instability at the law enforcement agency.”
Perdue, one of Trump’s closest allies in the Senate, was not quoted in the Politico article. But during a phone conversation with an Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer, the senator praised Wray’s performance and maintained his support.
“He had a very difficult job that he walked into,” Perdue said. “Nothing’s changed from the time I introduced Chris Wray.”
It's go time: GOPAC, a conservative advocacy group that recruits and trains candidates for public office, plans to spend $200,000 next year to support Republican state legislative candidates in Georgia.
The effort counters a Democratic initiative that aims to capture at least 16 Republican-held seats in the state House, enough to flip control of the chamber.
Candidates, endorsements, etc.:
— Democratic state Sen. Zahra Karinshak of Duluth, who served in the U.S. Air Force, picked up an endorsement from the VoteVets PAC in her bid in the 7th Congressional District.
— Sara Tindall Ghazal, the head of the state Democratic Party's voter protection initiative, is running for the seat held by state Rep. Matt Dollar, R-Marietta.
— Axios reports that Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has pledged $5 million to Stacey Abrams' voter rights group Fair Fight Action.
Capitol Recap
Here's a look at some of the political and government stories that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's staff broke online during the past week. To see more of them, go to www.ajc.com/politics.
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