Georgia Supreme Court Justices Keith Blackwell (left) and Carla Wong McMillian.

The Supreme Court of Georgia's newest justice has decided to recuse rather than sit on a pending appeal over who will fill Justice Keith Blackwell's seat. 

As one of her first acts after she was sworn in on April 10, Carla Wong McMillian became the sixth justice to step aside, rather than hear a contentious appeal by two would-be candidates barred from qualifying to run for Blackwell's seat, after the justice decided not to stand for re-election.

Thwarted from qualifying when Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger canceled the election,  former U.S. Rep. John Barrow moved for McMillian's recusal on April 13 and renewed his call for three justices who remain on the appeal to step down.

In an April 14 order, the high court announced McMillian's recusal. But Chief Justice Harold Melton and Justices Sarah Warren and David Nahmias have twice affirmed their intention to remain on the case, in which outgoing jurist Blackwell is a witness.

Blackwell and Justices Michael Boggs, Nels Peterson, John Ellington, and Charles Bethel all recused and have been replaced by five superior court judges. 

On Friday, Barrow lawyer Lester Tate, a partner at Akin & Tate in Cartersville and former chairman of the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, commended McMillian, adding he was "not surprised that she joined a majority of the court in choosing not to sit on a case that involves one of her colleagues."

"Trial judges are told not to sit on cases where other judges in their circuit or county are intricately involved, so I continue to believe recusal is necessary where the conduct of someone who serves on the very same court is at issue," Tate said.

Michael Moore, a  former U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia who also represents Barrow, said he, too, respects McMillian's decision to recuse, especially since she never served on the Supreme Court with Blackwell. "So, now we have six justices who agree that recusal is appropriate and three who for some reason can't see that it is," he said. "Where I come from, and in most any other matter before the high court, the decision of the majority is what controls. You have to start asking yourself, 'What is it about this case that makes the remaining three justices so resistant to doing the right thing?'"

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Chris Carr, whose staff attorneys represent Raffensperger and Blackwell, declined to comment.

McMillian was on the Georgia Court of Appeals when it punted appeals by Barrow, an Athens attorney, and former state Rep. Beth Beskin, a partner at the Atlanta offices of Freeman Mathis & Gary, who are seeking to overturn a Fulton County judge's decision not to order reinstatement of the canceled election.

Raffensperger canceled the election for Blackwell's seat after Gov. Brian Kemp informed his office that Kemp intended to appoint Blackwell's replacement. Kemp and the state attorney general contend that Blackwell's position is vacant, although the justice won't step down until Nov. 18,  because he resigned Feb. 26 rather than face re-election.