Hunstein Sworn in As New Supreme Court Chief Justice

Justices Carol Hunstein and George Carley await investiture
as Chief Justice and Presiding Justice, respectively. (Photo: V Edwards)

Investiture of Chief Justice Carol Hunstein by
former Governor Zell Miller. (Photo: V Edwards)

Former DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Carol Hunstein was sworn in today as Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. Former Governor Zell Miller presided over the investiture.

Hunstein was chosen by Miller in 1992 to become the second woman to serve on Georgia's Supreme Court. She succeeds outgoing Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who retired in June.

As the state's revenues continue to decline, and following a recent move by Governor Sonny Perdue to slash the judiciary's budget, the new chief justice says she will make funding the state's courts one of her top priorities.

"I plan to sit down with the Governor and with other leaders very, very soon and explain the constitutional duty of our court system. The citizens of this state deserve to have access to their courts. I am very, very confident that we will be able to work amiably together to resolve the problems."

The Chief Justice presides over Georgia's judicial branch, just as the governor heads the executive branch of government. The Presiding Justice serves in her absence.

And, associate justice George Carley was also sworn in today to succeed Hunstein as presiding judge. Former Governor Miller appointed Carley to the state’s highest court in 1993.

State's Top Judge to Teach, Practice Law

Earlier this year, Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears announced she'll step down from the state's highest court when her terms expires in June. Sears joined the Georgia Supreme Court in 1992. She was appointed to lead the court in the summer of 2005 and went on to create the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Children, Marriage and Family Law. The nation's first African American female Chief Justice will return to practicing law when her current term expires. Sears will join the Atlanta law offices of Chicago-based Schiff Hardin sometime later this year. In the meantime, Sears will teach a seminar titled "Contemporary Issues in Family Law" at the University of Georgia law school, focused on changes in marriage and divorce, and exploring controversial family issues facing the legal system. Finally, in addition to practicing law and teaching, Sears will join the Institute for American Values to serve for one year as the William Thomas Sears Distinguished Fellow in Family Law. The fellowship is named in honor of the chief justice's older brother who died in November 2007 at the age of 53. Recently, Sears' name has come up as a possible replacement to retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

Georgia chief justice to pay ethics fines

$3,100 will be paid by Georgia’s top judge for violation of state ethics laws. The fines to be paid by Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears are part of a pair of consent orders approved by the state Ethics Commission on Thursday.

The ethics complaints come from her 2004 re-election campaign. The charges included Sears taking contributions above the state’s 5-thousand dollar legal limit--including one of 20-thousand from a law firm. Sears also admitted to some misreporting of campaign finance information.

In other decisions by the Ethics Commission: It found probable cause to look into an parts of an ethics complaint against former Democratic candidate for governor Cathy Cox. The charges involve her 2001 re-election for Secretary of State.