The re-election bid of Georgia Supreme Court Justice Leah Sears is being targeted by opponents who want to replace her with a conservative jurist in the July 20 elections. (Photo by Robb D. Cohen)
MORE INFO MORE INFO Judicial Candidate Forum Hosted by Stonewall Bar Association & Georgia Equality June 16, 6-9 p.m. Park Tavern 500 10th St. 404-249-0001 Candidates scheduled to attend Georgia Court of Appeals: Debra Bernes, William Hawkins, Lee Elizabeth Wallace, Thomas Rawlings Fulton County Superior Court: Judge Wendy Shoob, Robert Matlock, Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane, Mark Spix, Judge Gail Tusan, Ural Glanville, Robert Hulsey, Jim Altman, Pat Jackson, Michael Johnson, Bill Riley, Mike Wallace DeKalb County Superior Court: Judge Cynthia J. Becker, Celeste Brewer, Henry Hibbert, Frederick Jackson, Mark Scott, Rodney Zell DeKalb County District Attorney: Gwen Keyes, Keith Adams
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Jun 11, 2004  |  By: CHRISTOPHER SEELY  | COMMENTS |   |  

With little more than a month left before the July 20 primaries, judicial candidates are ratcheting up their campaigns, but how they solicit votes has become a source of contention.

The high-profile race for a seat on the Georgia Supreme Court pits gay-friendly Justice Leah Sears against Grant Brantley, the challenger who seeks support from Republicans and the Christian Coalition of Georgia.

“I was a conservative judge and not an activist judge,” Brantley said during the GOP convention last month in reference to his history as a Republican judge in Cobb County.

Sears joined the high court in 1992 and sided with the majority opinion in 1998 overturning the state’s sodomy law.

“I’m not an activist judge,” Sears told Southern Voice this week. “But I sense that I’m being targeted.”

Sears has become the “face of the ‘activist’ judge” being targeted by religious conservatives, according to Kathleen Womack, past president of the Stonewall Bar Association, a gay legal group.

Stonewall Bar Association and Georgia Equality are co-hosting a forum June 16 for voters to meet judicial candidates. Georgia Equality endorsed Sears and is expected to issue endorsements in other races following the forum.

Neither Sears nor Brantley are scheduled to attend the forum, but four of the six candidates for the Georgia Court of Appeals are set to appear, as are 27 of 32 judicial candidates for Fulton and DeKalb courts, according to Womack.

In state Supreme Court campaign, Sears and Brantley are taking disparate approaches.

Brantley completed a survey sent to judicial candidates by the Christian Coalition last month. The questionnaire asked about controversial U.S. Supreme Court rulings about abortion and gay rights, among others.

Brantley and the Christian Coalition did not respond to interview requests.

Sears refused to answer the questionnaire, claiming it is unethical.

“Those were U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and as such they are the law of the land, and a judge has to follow the laws of the land,” Sears said. “It doesn’t matter what you personally believe.”

Instead, Sears signed a pledge from the Georgia Committee for Ethical Judicial Campaigns that asks candidates to refrain from stating positions on controversial matters that may come before them on the court.

“We have seen some highly unethical conduct — misleading statements, pressuring individuals to give money, pandering to special interest groups,” said Bill Ide, chair of the Georgia Committee for Ethical Judicial Campaigns.

The state Supreme Court race is one of the two most important judicial races on the ballot July 20, according to Womack.

The Supreme Court rules on what the constitution means, which could become important if a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is approved by voters in November, she said.

But county superior court races “are the ones that really have more power over decisions affecting our lives,” Womack said.

Superior Court judges decide custody, visitation, adoption, second-parent adoption, gay divorces, name changes for same-sex couples and transgendered persons, .

“We certainly want to make sure we have Superior Court judges who are fair and impartial and don’t carry any built-in prejudice against GLBT citizens,” Womack said.

The vote on July 20 determines the non-partisan judicial races. The voter registration deadline is June 21.

Christopher Seely can be reached at cseely@sovo.com.