2 Georgia Judges On Trump's Supreme Court Short List

ATLANTA, GA — Two Georgia judges are on President Donald Trump's shortlist to replace U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced Wednesday he is retiring from the high court.

Keith Blackwell and Britt Grant are both members of the Georgia Supreme Court who have been talked up in the hours since Kennedy, who has been considered a swing vote on the court, announced his decision. The appointment will give Trump the opportunity to appoint a justice who could set the court on an even more conservative path for decades.

Trump, speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, essentially confirmed the two Georgians were in the running.

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"It will be somebody from that list," Trump said Wednesday, referring to a list of potential Supreme Court nominees he compiled as a candidate in 2016. Both Blackwell and Grant were on the list.

Both Blackwell, 42, and Grant, 40, are young, meaning a lifetime Supreme Court appointment would let them help set national policy for a long time. And both have strong conservative credentials, which will no doubt be attractive to Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate which must confirm his appointee.

"If the question is whether they are exceedingly bright, exceedingly ethical, very hard-working and driven to do the best they can each and every day, that fits both of them," Sam Olens, Georgia's former state attorney general, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "They also leave out their personal opinions when deciding cases and follow the law."

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who is locked in a bruising Republican primary runoff for governor with state Secretary of State Brian Kemp, added his voice to those calling on Trump to consider the Georgia judges for Kennedy's spot.

"I encourage him to look to Georgia for a deep bench of brilliant, experienced and conservative jurists – just as the president has done in several recent federal court appointments," Cagle said in a written statement. "In the next term, that justice could join fellow Georgian Clarence Thomas to take a strict constructionist view of the Constitution and perhaps allow states to enact strong pro-life policies."

Trump appointed Grant to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta in April, just over a year after she started on the state Supreme Court. She had little trouble with a confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, but a vote on her appointment is being held up in unrelated political wrangling involving the committee's chairman, Republican Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake.

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The appointment marks the latest chapter in a meteoric rise through the judicial ranks for Grant.

According to her Georgia Supreme Court biography, Grant was appointed to the court by Gov. Nathan Deal on Jan. 1, 2017. She had previously served as Solicitor General in the state Attorney General's office, starting that role in 2015.

An Atlanta native raised in Fulton County, Grant graduated from Westminster Schools in Atlanta and Wake Forest University with a B.A. in English and Politics. She went to work for Deal, then a U.S. congressman, then at the White House for President George W. Bush.

At the White House, she served in roles at the Domestic Policy Council and Office of Cabinet Affairs. Her husband, Justin G. Grant, served with the CIA at the time.

She went on to attend Stanford Law School, where she graduated with distinction.

After that, she served as a law clerk for Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, then went into private practice, specializing in commercial litigation. In 2012, she returned to Georgia, where she began working for the state attorney general's office as counsel for legal policy.

Her appointment as solicitor general in 2015 made her the state's top lawyer for appeals cases. In that role, she represented the state in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals, among others.

She and her husband live in Atlanta and have three children.

Blackwell was appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court by Deal in 2012. He had served on the state Court of Appeals since being appointed by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue in 2010.

Born and raised in Cherokee County, Blackwell graduated as valedictorian from Cherokee High School then attended University of Georgia, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1996 with a degree in political science. He continued to the University of Georgia Law chool, where he served as senior editor of the Georgia Law Review and graduated summa cum laude again in 1999.

After law school, Blackwell served as law clerk to Judge J.L. Edmondson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He then went into private practice, specializing in criminal and regulatory issues, consumer class actions and other litigation.

In 2003, he went to work as an assistant district attorney in Cobb County, then returned to private practice in 2005. Hel also served as a deputy special attorney general for the State of Georgia in constitutional litigation.

Trump has announced no timetable for making his appointment, but Republican senators have said they'd like to complete hearings and call a vote for this fall — which, perhaps not coincidentally, would be before this year's mid-term elections which have the potential to dramatically alter the Senate's makeup.

Photos courtesy Georgia Supreme Court