Attorney Beth Beskin (left) and Georgia Supreme Court Justice Charles Bethel. (Photos: Courtesy and John Disney/ALM)

Georgia Supreme Court Justice Charles Bethel's political opponent is calling for Bethel to pledge he will not resign if she defeats him on June 9.

Beth Beskin, a former state legislator and a partner at the Atlanta offices of Freeman Mathis & Gary, issued the challenge Friday, less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court refused to compel the secretary of state to reinstate the canceled election for Justice Keith Blackwell's seat and affirmed Gov. Brian Kemp's right to appoint Blackwell's replacement.

"I think the Supreme Court's decision yesterday raises the very real specter that a losing judge could resign after the election but before the end of his or her term and defeat the will of the voters by allowing the governor to support a successor," said Beskin, who fought unsuccessfully to reinstate the election.

"Under this ruling, I could win my election against Justice Bethel on June 9, and that result could be completely erased if he then chose to resign and allow Gov. Kemp to appoint his successor," she said.

Beskin also called on Bethel to say whether he agreed with the majority or the two dissenting judges. The 6-2 majority included three of Bethel's colleagues: Chief Justice Harold Melton; Justice Sarah Warren, who was appointed in 2018 and is facing her first election this year; and Presiding Justice David Nahmias, who authored the 6-2 majority opinion. Bethel recused from the case along with five other justices, including Blackwell.

On Friday, Bethel campaign spokeswoman Meredith Stinson dismissed Beskin's pledge challenge as "an absurd stunt."

"Justice Bethel won't resign (and will do his best not to die and to avoid a family tragedy) and will serve the next six years when he wins election on June 9.  He will keep his word to Georgia voters — as he always has."

"Of course, Justice Bethel can't comment on Barrow, et al. v. Raffensperger," she continued. "He recused himself and took no part in the case, and expressing an opinion would, at a minimum, require him to recuse himself from future cases touching on the same area of law. A candidate qualified to serve on the Supreme Court would know that."

State Attorney General Chris Carr's office, which represented Raffensperger, defended canceling the election and argued that the governor has a right to appoint Blackwell's replacement because the seat is vacant, even though Blackwell remains on the bench. The high court disagreed, finding that "a vacancy exists only when the office is unoccupied by an incumbent."

However, Nahmias wrote: "Even if Justice Blackwell's office is not vacant yet, if his accepted resignation will undoubtedly create a vacancy in his office on November 18, his term of office will go with him, and the next six-year term of his office that would begin on January 1, 2021, will never exist."

"So an election held on May 19, 2020, for a term of office that will never come to exist would be legally nugatory."

In her dissent, Ocmulgee Circuit Superior Court Judge Brenda Trammell, who replaced one of the recused justices, said the majority ruling "would cancel the scheduled election to allow the governor to make an appointment that cannot be made until after the scheduled election"  because "the winner would not be permitted to take office because of the anticipated appointment."

"This ruling means that even were the election to go forward and a winner be declared, the appointee defeats the electee," she concluded. 

Beskin originally sought to qualify to run for Blackwell's seat. Blackwell, who along with Bethel was up for reelection this year, submitted his resignation to Gov. Brian Kemp on Feb. 26. But the justice said he would not step down until Nov. 18, just 42 days before the official end of his term.  

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger canceled the scheduled race for Blackwell's seat in early March after the governor notified him that he will name Blackwell's replacement.

The cancellation prevented Beskin and former U.S. Rep. John Barrow, an Athens lawyer, from qualifying to run for what should have been an open seat on the state Supreme Court. Both went to court to reinstate the election. Meanwhile, Beskin also qualified to run against Bethel.

Beskin said that, although the high court agreed with her that Blackwell's seat is not currently vacant, the ruling "assures that most if not all future jurists will initially get their job by appointment, as did both Bethel and Blackwell."

" I disagree with the Supreme Court's conclusion that the governor can nullify the election of a justice to the Supreme Court of Georgia by appointment," she said.