Gov. Nathan Deal (Photo: John Disney / ALM)

Twenty times since becoming Georgia's governor in 2011, Nathan Deal has had an opportunity to choose members of the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

Eighteen times he chose a white person. Fourteen times he chose a man.

Primarily because of these decisions, African-Americans on Georgia's top two courts—and women on the state Supreme Court—will have less influence when Deal leaves office than when he arrived nearly eight years ago.

At the Court of Appeals, however, Deal's appointments have increased the power of female judges.

Wayne Kendall, a Fayetteville lawyer who tracks judicial diversity in Georgia and advocates for more minority representation on the courts, said Deal was continuing a pattern of “ethnically cleansing the judiciary in Georgia with respect to African-American judges.”

“The trend has been so discouraging that many qualified African-American lawyers will no longer even apply,” Kendall said.

Laurie Webb Daniel.

Laurie Webb Daniel, who heads the appellate practice at Holland & Knight, said she had no reason to criticize any of Deal's specific appointments to the appeals courts, but she added that women and minorities “have not made the progress we should have.”

A spokesman said Deal and administration officials had nothing to say about diversity on the top courts or his recent appointments to them, when the governor eschewed a majority female short list before choosing two white men.

Criticism of Deal's record on diversity in the judiciary contrasts with widespread credit he has received for leading the creation of more than 140 “accountability” courts around the state, which help mostly nonviolent criminals recover from addiction and other problems without further clogging jails and prisons.

State House Speaker David Ralston recently called for the new $110 million state judicial building to be named for Deal, who was a lawyer and judge before he entered Republican politics. The structure will house the two top courts, which Deal expanded by a total of five jurists in a series of moves that diluted the representation of blacks on those courts and women at the high court.

By the Numbers 

When Deal took office, the Supreme Court had two black members among seven justices, for a 29 percent proportion. Now with nine members, the court still has only two black jurists, for a 22 percent share.

From 1992 until 2009, the seven-member high court had two women (29 percent), until Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears retired, and Gov. Sonny Perdue replaced her with now-Presiding Justice David Nahmias. So the Supreme Court had only one woman (14 percent) in Chief Justice Carol Hunstein when Deal took office.

When Deal convinced lawmakers to expand the Georgia Supreme Court to nine members, he added Justice Britt Grant, which increased female power to 22 percent. Grant left this summer to join Atlanta's federal appeals court, and Deal replaced her with Sarah Warren, keeping the 22 percent proportion intact. But, when Hunstein retires at the end of the year, she will be replaced by Appeals Court Judge John Ellington, who ran unopposed in a May election for Hunstein's seat.

At the Court of Appeals, the number of African-American members also has stayed at two while the court grew by three judges to 15. That dropped the proportion of black judges from 18 to 13 percent. Deal also tapped one Asian-American judge, so the overall minority influence at the appeals court grew from 18 percent to 20 percent.

At the appeals court, Deal's appointments doubled the number of women from three to six, pushing the proportion from 27 percent to 40 percent.

That figure surpasses the 38 percent of State Bar of Georgia members who are women, though the number of women is presumably around 50 percent in the overall state population. The bar doesn't keep racial statistics, but the 2010 census reported that 30.5 percent of Georgians were black.

“It's important to have statewide institutions … reflect the diversity of the people of the state of Georgia,” said Charles Johnson of Holland & Knight, who has long pushed for more minority representation on the courts.

Rita Treadwell.

“It's not enough,” Rita Treadwell, president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Lawyers, said of the numbers. “Why are we seeing a backward trend?”

Summer Surprise

Diversity advocates had reason to hope in March, when Randy Evans, who co-chaired Deal's Judicial Nominating Commission, urged women and minorities to apply for a spate of open appeals court judgeships.