Hunstein to Replace Sears as Chief Justice

Carol Hunstein Presiding Justice Carol W. Hunstein has been unanimously elected as the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia.

She will assume the position July 1, 2009, succeeding Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who is stepping down from the Court June 30.

The Court has also unanimously elected Justice George H. Carley to become the new Presiding Justice.

Former Gov. Zell Miller - who appointed both Justices to the Supreme Court - will swear them into their new positions in a ceremony in the state Supreme Court courtroom on July 1.

The state's Chief Justice presides over Georgia's judicial branch, just as the governor heads the executive branch of government, and House and Senate leaders lead the legislative branch. The Presiding Justice serves in her absence. The Chief Justice is the main spokesperson for the Court, as well as for the entire judiciary. She presides over oral arguments and runs the meetings in which the Court makes its decisions, although she has only one vote as does each of the Justices.

Justice Hunstein was a DeKalb County Superior Court Judge when Gov. Miller tapped her in 1992 to become the second woman in history to serve on Georgia's Supreme Court. She was the first woman to serve as President of the Council of Superior Court Judges.