Ga. Justice Is State's First Black Woman (on state Supreme Court)

ATLANTA - A black female state Supreme Court justice who overcame Republican efforts to block her re-election took the oath of the chief justice's office, with her longtime friend U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas saying he never thought he would witness such an event.

Leah Sears is the first black woman to head the highest appeals court in any state, according to the National Center for State Courts based in Williamsburg, Va. She will take office Friday, becoming the first woman to serve as chief justice in Georgia.
...
Sears, 50, was branded an activist judge by Gov. Sonny Perdue and other Republicans, but she won a nonpartisan race last year for a third six-year term with 62 percent of the vote. She was subsequently elected by her fellow justices to be their chief.

Perdue, who had taped a message of support for her campaign opponent that was sent to voters, was absent from Tuesday's ceremony. The governor's schedule showed he was in north Georgia visiting a new crime lab, a Chamber of Commerce and a local industry.
...
"Those of us who are judges know that it is easy to judge when you already have your mind made up," he told Sears at her oath of office ceremony Tuesday. "It is hard to judge when you have to make your mind up."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050629/ap_on_re_us/georgia_chief_justice