A photo of the courtroom for the Supreme Court of Georgia. The Supreme Court of Georgia courtroom.

Gov. Brian Kemp's Judicial Nominating Commission late Monday recommended a short list of four women to replace retired Justice Robert Benham on the Supreme Court of Georgia.

The panel suggested Kemp choose one of the following:

  • Judge Verda M. Colvin of Bibb County Superior Court;
  • Presiding Judge Sara L. Doyle of the Court of Appeals of Georgia;
  • Judge Shawn LaGrua of Fulton County Superior Court;
  • Judge Carla Wong McMillian of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Assuming Kemp chooses from with the short list, his choice will join Justice Sarah Warren to bring the court to two women and seven men.

Benham was the court's first African American member. With his departure, one other court member, Chief Justice Harold Melton, is African American. Among the finalists, Colvin is African American, McMillian is Asian American, and Doyle and LaGrua are white.

The JNC interviewed nine candidates Monday, choosing the four finalists over T. Mills Fleming, who heads HunterMaclean's health law practice in Savannah; Judge Horace J. Johnson Jr. of Alcovy Circuit Superior Court; Judge C. LaTain Kell of Cobb County Superior Court; Judge J. Wade Padgett of the Augusta Circuit Superior Court; and Judge Holly W. Veal of the Flint Circuit Superior Court.

Last month 79 judges and lawyers were nominated to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Benham. Only 22 nominees completed applications, and the JNC chose nine to interview.

Kemp has been weighing a separate short list for an open Georgia Court of Appeals seat since last November. They would be his first choices for the state's top two courts, but a third will open in the fall, as Justice Keith Blackwell announced last week that he will resign then.

The high court short list was announced amid statewide candidate qualifying for the May election. When Benham indicated last year that he would finish his term at the end of 2020, four candidates—Doyle, Johnson, former U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Georgia, and former state Rep. Beth Beskin, R-Atlanta—launched campaigns and raised more than $1 million combined. Eight other candidates started running for the Court of Appeals to replace Doyle.

But Benham announced late last year that he would resign on March 1. That made the race for his seat moot, shrank the appeals court race and left Kemp's appointment as the path to Benham's seat. Doyle and Johnson completed JNC applications; however, after being nominated, Barrow and Beskin did not.