ATLANTA - Gov. Sonny Perdue on Thursday swore in U.S. Attorney David Nahmias as the newest justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.
Perdue tapped Nahmias, a federal prosecutor with strong conservative credentials, for the job last month. Nahmias, 44, was appointed U.S. attorney in 2004 by President George W. Bush. He has clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and worked with the law firm of current U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
Nahmias' wife, Cathy O'Neil, a partner in the Atlanta office of the law firm King & Spalding, introduced her husband by reading a speech Nahmias gave as valedictorian of his high school class in 1982 in which he said, ``We must always be involved, we cannot merely exist, we must give.''
The state Capitol's House chamber was packed with friends, family and colleagues as Nahmias took his oath of office on a Bible held by his wife.
During a speech afterward, he got choked up as he thanked his parents for ``instilling in me the sense of possibility.''
Nahmias said he is generally a confident person but he was ``pretty apprehensive'' about the enormous responsibility that comes with the core value of his new job, ``protecting and advancing the rule of law.'' He said he doesn't believe in changing laws from the bench and would always welcome lively debate and challenges from his colleagues and members of the public.
Perdue said there was a field of extremely qualified candidates and he ultimately chose Nahmias because he has ``demonstrated himself to be a very competent, committed public servant.''
Nahmias replaces former Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who stepped down in June and was considered a potential nominee by President Barack Obama for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nahmias will have to face election to a six-year term in November 2010.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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May 19th, 2024
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