Letter: Advocacy for Action Reacts to Judicial Appointment

"If ... talent, experience, temperament, merit, competence and abilities are necessary qualities for a judge, maybe someone can explain why Governor Kemp appointed a politician with little or no trial experience over a diverse candidate with extensive judicial experience to the Fulton County Superior Court? We cannot," the writers said.

Letter to Editors of Fulton County Daily Report:

On several occasions, Governor Kemp has negatively commented about crime in Atlanta:  On June 19, 2021, he tweeted: "According to the [M]ayor, rising crime in our capital city is everyone’s fault but hers. Getting Georgians back to work, back to school, and back to normal didn’t lead to more crime. The left’s anti-police, soft-on-crime agenda is to blame."  On June 21, 2021, Governor Kemp stated to the press that the Mayor of Atlanta was “passing the buck” and blaming COVID as to why crime had escalated in Atlanta in recent months.  And, on July 19 2021, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported that Governor Kemp plans to call a special legislative session to convene and focus on tackling crime in Atlanta.

Yet, on July 21, 2021, just two days after the AJC article, Governor Kemp appointed Chuck Eaton, a Public Service Commissioner and a White Male who has apparently never practiced law as a litigator, to the Fulton County Superior Court which is one of the busiest trial courts and a court that has one of the heaviest criminal caseloads in the State of Georgia.  According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, excluding domestic cases, almost half of all new court case filings in Fulton Superior Court are criminal cases involving felony charges as either a new case or revocation of a sentence on a previously adjudicated case.   According to the Fulton District Attorney, due to COVID-19  and a lack of resources, there exists a backlog of thousands of pending and unindicted criminal cases in Fulton County in the midst of a reported crime wave in the County.  How then can the Governor justify appointing an untutored neophyte to that Court under those circumstances over another lawyer, with extensive criminal and judicial experience of over twenty years.  How can that be explained? 

Judge Chris Ward, who was selected by the Judicial Nominating Commission as one of three (3) names forwarded to Governor Kemp for consideration for appointment to the vacancy on the Fulton County Superior Court, has served on the City of Atlanta Municipal Court since 2012.   For five (5) years, he served as an attorney for Georgia Power.  For four (4) years, he served as a Fulton County Juvenile Court Judge.  For several years, he served as a Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office in charge of the Illegal Firearms Unit where he prosecuted major felony cases involving gangs, illegal firearms, and narcotics – just the type of crime that Governor Kemp is complaining has invaded the City of Atlanta. 

With that kind of resume, why was Judge Ward not appointed to the Fulton County Superior Court?  Is it possible, based upon Judge Ward’s stellar credentials, that Judge Ward was not appointed because he is a black male? The last black male appointed to Fulton County Superior Court was in 2002 when now retired Judge Marvin Arrington was appointed to the bench by Governor Roy Barnes.  Since 2002, in the last 19 years out of 10 such appointments to that court, before the appointment of Chuck Eaton, only one (1) African American, a female, had been appointed to the Fulton County Superior Court.  Of the twenty (20) judges currently sitting on that bench, eleven (11) are white and eight (8) are African American.  Yet of the eight (8) African Americans, seven (7) won their seats through an election, not through a gubernatorial appointment.  These irrefutable statistics are why, after years of doing so, Advocacy For Action has de-emphasized the strategy of seeking out African American attorneys to apply for appointment to the Fulton County Superior Court and instead focused on recruiting attorneys to run for a seat on that bench.

Our goal at Advocacy for Action is to achieve a fair and balanced judiciary in this State representative of all citizens of the State. Currently the judiciary in this State is not balanced as to the representation of minorities and people of color in judicial positions.  Take a look at the leadership of the judiciary in this photo of the 2021-2022 Georgia Judicial Council.

17 White Males; 9 White Females; 2 African American Females; 1 Asian Male; 0 African American Males; 0 Asian Females; 0 Hispanic males or females.  Only 13% of the State’s Superior Court judges are minorities in a state where the population, according to the latest census figures, indicate that the While alone population is 52% and persons of color comprise the remaining 48%.  Again, according to the Administrative Office of the Court’s 2020 Annual Report, only 18% of judges across all classes of courts are minorities. Governor Kemp has a powerful tool - the judicial appointment power - to correct this imbalance, if only he would choose to do so.  

Many applaud Governor Kemp for appointing several African Americans to courts outside of Fulton County and, most recently, to the Supreme Court.  Advocacy For Action also congratulates those individuals for their accomplishments, each of whom were highly qualified for the positions they were appointed to having had previous judicial experience or substantial courtroom trial experience, unlike Mr. Eaton.    If only we had more such appointments.

However, the decreasing amount of diversity on one of the most important courts in Georgia and where a concentration of the African American population in this state resides and are more likely to appear in a civil or criminal matter should give all members of the community, especially attorneys, cause for concern.  Sure, we can all agree that skin color alone does not ensure that one’s client receives justice or that skin color is, or should be, the only qualification for appointment .  In a perfect world justice is blind, including being blind to color.  We do not live in a perfect world.  It would be foolish to think that any judge, Black or White, discards his/her personal biases, prejudices, and personal predilections upon donning a black robe.  We do not live in that world.  The best we can hope for is that overall, the judiciary is balanced and made up of individuals whose life’s experiences are varied and diverse and the wealth of those experiences across the spectrum of such experiences infuses fairness in the delivery of just judicial decision making by eliminating or reducing prejudices and biases based on race, color and ethnicity.   To achieve that goal the judiciary must be made up of diverse individuals and not overwhelming of only one demographic – white males, as it is currently.  Most importantly, the person sitting on the bench who makes judgment calls should, at a minimum, have practiced law as a litigator before being tasked with ruling on motions, evidentiary issues in the heat of a trial or to make sentencing determinations on felony criminal matters. 

Thus, it is inexplicable, given their respective backgrounds and legal experience, why Governor Kemp chose PSC Commissioner Chuck Eaton over Municipal Court Judge Chris Ward.  According to information on the PSC website, Eaton, who holds statewide office as a Republican, earned his law degree in 2012.  He has served full-time on the PSC since 2006.  Prior to his service on the Commission, he worked in real estate in Atlanta. And, before that, he was an account executive for a packaging manufacturer.  How does that compare to the stellar credentials of Judge Ward?  Eaton has apparently never set foot in any court in this state or any other state as a licensed practicing attorney.  Even if he has presided over administrative hearings regarding utility matters, for which the rules of evidence generally do not apply, he has apparently NEVER practiced law in a court.  To all appearances, he has NEVER prosecuted a case, he has NEVER represented a client in a court of law, civil or criminal, and he has NEVER tried a case before a judge or a jury – all qualifications one would think informs a prudent Superior Court judicial appointment decision.  Any attorney should be concerned about appearing before Eaton as a judge on any matter. 

In 2016, Governor Nathan Deal reportedly stated in response to a question from the Daily Report - “[i]s racial diversity more important than excellence and credentials and ability? It’s a factor, but is it the most important factor? I don’t think so.”  While Deal’s former Judicial Nominating Commission Chairperson Randy Evans urged Governor Kemp to select a diverse candidate to replace Justice Melton, he also stated that “Deal’s JNC and appointments did more to advance a judiciary that looked more like Georgia than any governor in Georgia’s history.” (Daily Report Commentary, May 4, 2021).  Yet, Deal, appointed just one (1) African American to the Fulton County Superior Court and his predecessor, Governor Perdue, appointed ZERO minorities to that court.  And, Kemp’s score of appointments to the Fulton County Superior Court? ZERO. 

We cannot discern how Kemp’s appointment of Eaton over Ward is based on merit.  Nor can it be masked by the simultaneous announcement of the appointment of four African Americans in a joint press release, in hopes that the smoke of the African American appointments will hide the glaring snub of a more qualified African American to the Fulton Superior Court judgeship position. Apparently, some other factors are at play in this decision, which once again denies a qualified African American male nominee the opportunity to serve as a Fulton County Superior Court Judge.  If, as Evans suggested, talent, experience, temperament, merit, competence and abilities are necessary qualities for a judge, maybe someone can explain why Governor Kemp appointed a politician with little or no trial experience over a diverse candidate with extensive judicial experience to the Fulton County Superior Court? We cannot. 

Suzy Ockleberry

Wayne Kendall

Charles S. Johnson

Advocacy For Action