Georgia Supreme Court justices choose Nels S.D. Peterson as next chief justice

Credit: Ballotpedia

ATLANTA — The justices on the Georgia Supreme Court have unanimously elected Presiding Justice Nels S.D. Peterson to be the state’s next chief justice.

Peterson will assume his new role after March 31, when the resignation of current Chief Justice Michael Boggs takes effect.

Boggs announced earlier this week that he was leaving the bench to resume private practice in his hometown of Waycross.

Peterson was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2016 by then-Gov. Nathan Deal and was elected to full six-year terms in 2018 and last year.

He previously served in a variety of other roles in state government, including as a judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals, general counsel for the University System of Georgia, Georgia’s first solicitor general in the Attorney General’s Office, and executive counsel to the governor.

The chief justice in Georgia serves one four-year term, acting as the spokesperson both for the court and the entire state judiciary as well as presiding over the court’s oral arguments.

With Peterson moving up to the top role on the high court, the justices also unanimously elected Justice Sarah Hawkins Warren as the next presiding justice.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Capitol Beat News Service.