ATLANTA -- Two Georgia Supreme Court members could be on President Donald Trump's short list of replacements for Anthony Kennedy, who surprised the nation's political observers Wednesday with his retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court.
In November 2017, President Trump release a list of justices he was considering for the court. Among those names are Georgia Supreme Court justices Keith Blackwell and Britt Grant.
According to his court bio, Blackwell was appointed to the court in July 2012 by Gov. Nathan Deal. He previously served as a judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia, a position to which he was appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue in November 2010. Perdue is now U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in the Trump administration.
Blackwell was born and raised in Cherokee County and a graduate from the University of Georgia law school.
Blackwell served as a law clerk to 11th circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge J.L. Edmondson, and then entered private practice with Atlanta-based Alston & Bird, where he represented clients in criminal and regulatory investigations, consumer class actions, and other complex commercial litigation.
In 2003, Blackwell served as an assistant DA in Cobb County, and then joined Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs. Blackwell also served as a deputy special attorney general for the Georgia in constitutional litigation.
According to her court bio, Grant is another one of Deal's Supreme Court appointees, joining the court in January 2017. She previously served as Georgia solicitor general for from 2015-2017 under then-Attorney General Sam Olens and current Attorney General Chris Carr.
Grant was born in Atlanta and graduated from the Westminster Schools in Atlanta and Wake Forest University in North Carolina. She then worked Deal's Washington, D.C., office when he was a congressman.
After graduating, Grant worked in the Washington, D.C. office of then-U.S. Rep. Deal. Shortly before September 11, 2001, she began serving in the White House under President George W. Bush, and held several domestic policy roles, including in the Domestic Policy Council and the Office of Cabinet Affairs.
Her husband, Justin G. Grant, served in the Central Intelligence Agency.
Grant graduated Stanford Law School, and then served as a clerk to U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the District of Columbia Circuit. She then joined at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Washington, D.C.
Grant returned to Georgia in 2012 and was appointed Solicitor General in January 2015.
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