Georgia Supreme Court
From Judgepedia
The Georgia Supreme Court was established in 1845. It includes seven justices. Justices were originally appointed by the state legislature but following a constitutional amendment in 1896 have been elected by the people.
For the purpose of hearing oral argument the Court sits each month, except August and December.
In 1858, the Georgia legislature passed an act decreeing that the decisions of the 13-year-old court had the force of law.[1]
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First session
The Supreme Court's first session was held at Talbotton, Georgia, on January 26, 1846. The first three judges chosen by the General Assembly to serve on the Court were Joseph Henry Lumpkin of Athens, Eugenius A. Nisbet of Macon, and Hiram Warner of Greenville. Their salaries were set at $2,500.00 per year.
At the time of the creation of the Supreme Court, Georgia's population stood at approximately 800,000. The state was divided into eleven superior court circuits, and the judges of the Supreme Court travelled the state, holding court in nine different localities during the course of the year. Travel amounted to over 1,000 miles per year and each judge paid his own travel costs. Cases were decided at the term submitted; decisions were handed down from the bench orally and only later reduced to writing.
The Constitution was amended in 1896 to provide for the addition of three justices to the Court and to provide that justices and the chief justice would be elected by the people. A seventh justice was added by the Constitution of 1945.
Current Justices
Removal From Office
Georgia judges may be removed in one of two ways:
- The state's judicial qualifications commission may discipline, retire, or remove a judge. Removal and retirement decisions must be reviewed by the supreme court.
- Judges may be impeached by the house of representatives and convicted by a two-thirds vote of the senate.
External Links
- Georgia Supreme Court Official Site
- Ga. Supreme Court: No new trial for Troy Davis
- Georgia judicial qualifications commission
- Lackluster election for state supreme court justices, June 27, 2008.
References
- ↑ "[F]rom and after the passage of this act the decisions of the Supreme Court of this State . . . shall not be reversed, overruled or changed; but the same is hereby declared to be, and shall be considered, regarded and observed by all the Courts of this State, as the law of this State, when it has not been changed by legislative enactment, as fully, and to have the same effect, as if the same had been enacted in terms by the General Assembly. Acts of 1858, pp. 74-75.
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