2 attorneys launch campaigns challenging GOP-appointed justices on Georgia’s highest court

Two prominent attorneys have launched campaigns for the Georgia Supreme Court, challenging two sitting justices who were originally appointed by former Republican Gov. Nathan Deal.  Former Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin, a personal injury attorney and former president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, stood together Tuesday at Liberty Plaza […]

Two prominent attorneys have launched campaigns for the Georgia Supreme Court, challenging two sitting justices who were originally appointed by former Republican Gov. Nathan Deal. 

Former Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin, a personal injury attorney and former president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, stood together Tuesday at Liberty Plaza outside the state Capitol. The two left-leaning candidates pledged to protect basic rights that they argued are under attack. 

Jordan is challenging Presiding Justice Sarah Hawkins Warren, and Rankin will take on Justice Charlie Bethel. Warren and Bethel were both appointed to the court in 2018 and then reelected to a six-year term in 2020. Bethel served as a GOP state senator from north Georgia before joining the bench. 

“I’m not just going to sit down and do nothing because someone has to stand up for Georgia’s civil liberties that are being stripped away,” Rankin said. 

The candidates were introduced Tuesday by reproductive and voting rights advocates, but they framed the election as a referendum on all basic rights granted by the state constitution. 

“If that’s what’s at stake and that court is supposed to be the last line of defense, then, my goodness, you better make sure that the people on that court have your back right,” said Jordan, who stepped down from her Senate seat to run for attorney general in 2022. “That’s why we’re running.” 

In recent years, the state’s highest court has been asked to weigh in on Georgia’s six-week abortion ban and the powers of the State Election Board, which had attempted to pass controversial new voting rules shortly before the 2024 election. 

Unlike the partisan races on the ballot this year, where nominees are chosen in May to compete in the fall, these statewide Supreme Court races are nonpartisan and will be settled through the May 19 election. That gives Jordan and Rankin just three months to mount their challenge. 

They are also up against the power of incumbency on a nine-member bench where nearly all the justices originally landed there through an appointment by a governor. 

In an interview Tuesday, the candidates acknowledged the challenge that awaits them and said they plan to focus on making sure voters know this is an elected position and that they have a choice. 

“We do understand that we’re doing something that people don’t frequently do, but we’re living in a time where we have to have leaders who are willing to step up and do things that are uncommon to get uncommon results for our state,” Rankin said. 

Jordan said the unusual timing of the election also favors the incumbents, which she argued is by design. 

“We’re going to have to do a lot of voter education to tell folks about what is the role of Supreme Court, why is it important to you and why you need to vote,” Jordan said. 

Bethel last won reelection in 2020 with 52% of the vote, defending the seat against a former Republican lawmaker. In the same election, Warren won in a landslide against a lesser-known candidate.

In an interview, Bethel said Wednesday that he looks forward to a campaign that is “focused on ensuring Georgians have a judiciary governed by the rule of law.” 

He argued it is the court’s job to merely apply existing law to the case before the justices, although he did say he and other members of the court will sometimes flag for lawmakers when the law is unclear. 

For example, Bethel wrote in a dissenting opinion in 2021 that Georgia’s strict rules for proving someone facing the death penalty has an intellectual disability “significantly increases” the risk that Georgia could execute someone with disabilities. A lawmaker used Bethel’s words to successfully convince his colleagues last year to change Georgia law. 

“When we talk about being governed by the rule of law, that implies that branches all follow their own assigned tasks and it’s not for the judicial branch to correct or fill in. It is to apply the law that exists,” Bethel said. 

Warren said in a statement that she looks forward to “earning the votes of hardworking Georgians in this May’s election.”

“Georgians deserve independent, nonpartisan Supreme Court Justices who honor their oaths to uphold the Georgia Constitution of and the United States Constitution. That’s what I have done during my more than seven years of service on the Supreme Court, and that’s what I will continue to do in this role,” Warren said.

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