New Georgia Supreme Court chief justice sworn in
Michael Boggs (Supreme Court of Georgia)
ATLANTA - Georgia’s highest court has a new chief justice.
Michael Boggs, who had been the court’s presiding justice, was sworn in Monday as chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. He replaces David Nahmias, who announced in February that he was stepping down from the court.
Georgia chief justices are chosen by their colleagues to serve a single four-year term leading the state’s judicial branch. The chief justice speaks for the high court and the rest of the state’s judiciary and presides over oral arguments and deliberation meetings. The chief justice also chairs the Georgia Judicial Council, which makes policy for the judicial branch.
Georgia Supreme Court justices run for six-year terms and can be reelected.
Justice Nels Peterson was sworn in Monday as the court’s presiding justice. Typically, the presiding justice is next in line to be chief justice.
Boggs was appointed to the Supreme Court by then-Gov. Nathan Deal in 2016 and won election to a six-year term in 2018. He previously served on the state Court of Appeals and as a superior court judge in Waycross, where he founded that circuit’s drug court program.
Before taking the bench, Boggs served two terms in the Georgia General Assembly. Deal appointed him to serve as a co-chair of the Georgia Criminal Justice Reform Council from 2012 to 2018. A graduate of Georgia Southern College and Mercer University School of Law, Boggs also is a member or leader of numerous other organizations having to do with the judicial branch.
Boggs co-chaired the Criminal Justice Reform Council when Deal was governor and has also been a member of Gov. Brian Kemp’s Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission, serving as chair of the mental health courts and corrections subcommittee.