Federal judge upholds Georgia law on judicial appointments

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Posted 7:48AM on Tuesday, July 23, 2002

ATLANTA - A federal judge has ruled against a candidate for a newly filled Superior Court seat, saying that the Georgia Constitution entitles the recent appointee to two years in office before facing voters. Former Atlanta Solicitor Louise Hornsby said she would appeal Monday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Ernest Tidwell, which prevents Hornsby from running for the Superior Court judgeship even though she qualified for the election before Gov. Roy Barnes filled the vacant seat. "I would have run against one of the sitting judges if I had known they were going to disqualify me," Hornsby said. "I would have thought the governor would have appointed somebody before the qualifying date." Hornsby, 65, was the only candidate to qualify by the June deadline for the seat vacated by Superior Court Judge Isaac Jenrette, who retired in March. Because she was the only candidate running in the Aug. 20 primary, she would have been elected by default, but Barnes filled the vacancy with the appointment of Gino Brogdon. Hornsby's attorney, Mike Bowers, argued that postponing the election for two years was unconstitutional because it resulted in the office's four-year term being changed to a six-year term. Tidwell ruled the constitution was providing Brogdon with a new two-year term, not extending a four-year term. He cited a 1986 legal opinion in which then-state Attorney General Bowers maintained that the state Constitution provided a "practical balance between democracy and stability" in creating a new two-year-term for a judicial appointee. Joshua Archer, Bowers' partner in Hornsby's case, said Tidwell's ruling took Bower's argument out of context. "The Legislature never intended to allow the governor to make a four-year term into a six-year term, and we say the 1986 opinion is talking about a situation when somebody is appointed within the first two years of the retiring judge's term," Archer said.