The Fulton County Superior Court chief judge’s sudden decision to resign before his next election and allow the governor to appoint his successor has taken an important decision away from the voters, according to Georgia’s leading judicial diversity advocacy group.

“It’s very disappointing,” said Suzanne Ockleberry, co-founder of Advocacy for Action, a nonprofit organization of lawyers and judges that promotes diversity in the judiciary by recruiting candidates for appointments and election. The group has expressed concern that the number of Black judges in the biggest and busiest court in the state has decreased. A county that’s nearly half Black has had only one new Black judge in more than two decades, Ockleberry said. Historically, the group has found more success with elections than with gubernatorial appointments.

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