Georgia’s top judge urged state lawmakers Tuesday to end all remaining partisan elections for state judges, saying widespread efforts to politicize the courts are as concerning as the increasing attacks and threats of physical violence against judges.
In his third annual State of the Judiciary address, Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Boggs said proposed legislation to end the few remaining partisan elections for probate and magistrate judgeships in Georgia has the full support of the impacted courts.
Most of the state’s 1,600 judges are subject to nonpartisan elections, but some probate and magistrate judges are still elected in partisan races, where judges campaign with a party affiliation like Republican or Democrat. Boggs said the politicization of courts impedes public trust and confidence in the judicial system.
“Equally as concerning as the attacks and threats of physical violence on our judges are the purposeful and widespread efforts to transform the courts into partisan political actors,” Boggs told lawmakers. “It is hard to overstate the danger such efforts pose to the rule of law if left unchecked. Simply put, an independent judiciary with respect for the rule of law keeps us from becoming a society in which the person with the biggest stick is in charge.”
The latest partisan judicial elections in Georgia included the 2024 race for Douglas County’s probate judge. Incumbent Christina Peterson lost the Democratic primary in May to challenger Valerie Vie, before being arrested at a Buckhead nightclub and ousted from the bench. There were no Republican candidates for Peterson’s seat that Vie now holds.
It’s generally harder to challenge an incumbent in a nonpartisan election, particularly when the race takes place out of the spotlight, as voters have little to base their selection on, legal experts say. That’s one of the reasons very few incumbent judges in Georgia face election challenges.
Boggs said judges must base their decisions on the law, and not act as a “super legislature.” He said Georgians need to be able to trust that the state’s judges faithfully carry out their limited role free from policy preferences.
“One way our judiciary is making good on upholding our oaths and doing what we can to further instill public trust in our institution is by supporting legislation that will end partisan elections for the remaining few probate and magistrate court judgeships not yet nonpartisan,” Boggs told lawmakers. “With the full support of these local courts, we are coming to you this year, asking for your support and assistance in rectifying this issue.”
Boggs’ address also elaborated on threats against judges, which was the key message of his 2024 speech in the Georgia General Assembly. He thanked lawmakers Tuesday for their support of 2024 legislation that shields judges’ personal information from the public, and cited recent safety training for state judges and lawmakers.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
“Make no mistake, threats against judges are increasing,” Boggs said. “Just last month, bomb threats forced the closure and evacuation of the Muscogee County courthouse.”
A committee to address judicial security was established by Boggs in 2023 and continues to form recommendations.
Boggs has also formed a committee to address the impact of artificial intelligence on the judiciary. On Tuesday, he asked lawmakers to support proposed legislation that would allow judges to use a digital system to record certain court proceedings, saying the shortage of court reporters is a nationwide problem that’s getting worse in Georgia.
The use of digital systems would help ease court delays, Boggs said.
The judge also asked legislators to back pay raises for judges in Georgia’s statewide and superior courts. And he thanked Gov. Brian Kemp for allocating American Rescue Plan Act funds to the creation of a statewide court case management system as a fix to “more than 159 individual and disparate case management systems that lack common functionality, common definitional standards and an ability to share information.”
Boggs said the new system is “a generationally transformative tool for collecting, using and reporting real-time case information,” and should be functional by the end of the year. He said it will give judges access to pertinent information about the defendants standing before them, such as whether they have court cases in other counties.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
“We can all agree that a judge trying to accurately fashion an appropriate sentence should not have to rely on the goodwill of criminal defendants to volunteer that they are already on probation somewhere else in Georgia or that they have a history of civil mental health commitments,” he said. “And, of course, bad, missing, inaccurate or incomplete data available to our state’s judges clearly has real and frightening public safety implications, for every Georgian.”
Boggs also told lawmakers that Georgia should be a national leader in addressing the civil justice gap and “legal deserts” plaguing rural communities, commending Texas, Arizona and Washington State for making “great progress” on the issue.
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