Leah Ward Sears facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Leah Sears
27th Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court
In office June 28, 2005 – June 30, 2009
Appointed by	Zell Miller
Preceded by	Norman Fletcher
Succeeded by	Carol Hunstein
Associate Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court
In office July 21, 1992 – June 28, 2005
Appointed by	Zell Miller
Succeeded by	David Nahmias
Personal details
Born	Leah Jeanette Sears (1955-06-13) June 13, 1955 (age 70) Heidelberg, West Germany
Spouses	Love Collins (divorced 1994) Haskell Ward
Education	Cornell University (BA) Emory University (JD) University of Virginia (LLM)

Leah Ward Sears (born June 13, 1955) is an American lawyer and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. She made history as the first African-American woman to lead a state supreme court in the United States.

When she was first chosen as a justice in 1992, she became the first woman and the youngest person ever to serve on Georgia's Supreme Court.

Early Life and Education

Leah Ward Sears was born in Heidelberg, Germany. Her father, Thomas E. Sears, was a Colonel in the United States Army. Her mother was Onnye Jean Sears.

Her family later moved to Savannah, Georgia. Leah attended and graduated from Beach High School there.

College and Law School

Sears earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), from Cornell University in 1976. She then went on to get her law degree, called a Juris Doctor (J.D.), from Emory University School of Law in 1980. Later, she earned a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995.

While at Cornell, she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and the Quill and Dagger society. She also has special honorary degrees from several colleges.

Professional Career

After finishing law school, Leah Sears worked as a lawyer at the firm Alston & Bird in Atlanta from 1980 to 1985. She also taught law as a professor at Emory University School of Law and the University of Georgia School of Law.

Becoming a Judge

In 1985, Mayor Andrew Young appointed Sears to the City of Atlanta Traffic Court. She then became a Superior Court judge in 1988. This made her the first African-American woman to hold that position in Georgia.

Sears was appointed as a state Supreme Court justice in 1992. Twelve years later, in 2004, she faced a tough election but won easily with 62 percent of the votes. She then became the Chief Justice of the Court in June 2005.

In October 2008, Sears announced she would leave the state Supreme Court in June 2009. This was when her term as Chief Justice ended.

After the Court

After leaving the Supreme Court, Sears considered becoming a dean at the University of Maryland School of Law but later decided not to. She taught family law at the University of Georgia Law School. She also accepted a special fellowship at the Institute for American Values.

In May 2009, Sears joined the law firm Schiff Hardin in Atlanta. She focused on cases that went to higher courts and on white-collar crime (crimes committed by business people).

In September 2016, Justice Sears moved to another law firm, Smith, Gambrell & Russell. There, she continued to work on cases for higher courts and business disagreements. She has been a partner at this firm in Atlanta, Georgia since October 2016.

In December 2016, Sears was featured in a documentary called Balancing the Scales. This film looked at the history of women in law, including challenges like discrimination and balancing work and life.

In May 2025, it was announced that Sears would become the interim President of Emory University starting September 1, 2025.

Personal Life

Leah Sears lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, Haskell Ward. He used to be the Deputy Mayor of New York City. She has two children, Addison Sears-Collins and Brennan Sears-Collins. She was previously married to Love Collins III, and they divorced in 1994.

Sears is friends with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. They grew up in the same part of southeastern Georgia. She also supports the legal recognition of same-sex marriages.

The Georgia Historical Society keeps a collection of her papers. These include photos, awards, and writings from 1980 to 2009. A book about her life, "Justice Leah Ward Sears: Seizing Serendipity," was published in 2017.

Important Court Decisions

As a judge, Leah Sears made many important decisions. She often focused on protecting people's rights.

Protecting Rights

• First Amendment: This amendment protects freedom of speech. Sears often argued that laws should not limit what people can say, especially if the speech is not harmful. For example, she disagreed with laws that tried to stop people from asking about certain private actions, saying it limited free speech.
• Fourth Amendment: This amendment protects people from unfair searches. Sears believed that police should usually have a warrant (permission from a judge) to search someone's home. She also thought warrants needed to be very specific about what could be searched.
• Sixth Amendment: This amendment ensures people have a fair trial. Sears strongly believed that people accused of serious crimes, especially those facing the death penalty, should always have a good lawyer, even if they can't afford one.
• Eighth Amendment: This amendment protects people from cruel and unusual punishment. Sears often spoke out against the death penalty, especially death by electrocution, saying it was not fair or humane. She also believed that very long prison sentences for young people should be carefully reviewed.
• Due Process: This is about making sure legal processes are fair. Sears argued that the rules for proving mental health issues in death penalty cases should be easier for the accused. She also believed that judges should not be swapped in the middle of a trial, as it could make the trial unfair.

Government and Elections

• Taxation: Sears sometimes disagreed with how tax money was used. She believed that if taxes were collected for a specific purpose, like for schools, the money should be used for that purpose.
• Election Law: She also had strong opinions on how elections should be run. She argued that proposed changes to the state constitution should only deal with one main topic at a time, to make sure voters clearly understand what they are voting for.

Cases Reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court

Some of the cases Sears worked on were even reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).

• In one case, Sears agreed with a decision that said police could not search a shared home if one person said no, even if another person said yes. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with this decision.
• In another case, Sears disagreed with how some jurors were dismissed because they had concerns about the death penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court later agreed with Sears, saying the wrong rules were used to dismiss those jurors.

2004 Election Campaign

In 2004, Leah Sears ran for re-election against Grant Brantley. Some people called her an "activist judge," meaning they thought she made decisions based on her own beliefs rather than strictly on the law.

However, she won the election easily. She received 745,011 votes (62.3%), while Brantley received 451,320 votes (37.7%). This election was the first time in Georgia that candidates for judge were allowed to talk about legal issues and each other's past decisions during the campaign.

Career Highlights and Awards

Career History

• Lawyer at Alston & Bird, Atlanta, Georgia: 1980–1985
• Traffic Court Judge, City Court of Atlanta: 1985–1987
• Judge, Fulton Superior Court, Atlanta: 1988–1992
• Justice, State Supreme Court of Georgia: 1992–2009
• Founder of the Battered Women's Project of Columbus, Georgia

Organizations

Leah Sears has been a member of many important groups:

• National Association of Women's Judges
• Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (founding president)
• Chair of the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism
• Chair of the Supreme Court Commission on Civil Justice
• Chair of the Supreme Court's Commission on Marriage, Children and Families
• Georgia Tech Advisory Board
• Links, Incorporated
• Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority
• Georgia Historical Society Board of Curators
• The Carter Center, Board of Trustees
• Emory University, Board of Trustees

Awards

She has received many awards for her work:

• NAACP award for community service
• 2006 Trumpet Award-Law
• 2008 Honoree—Second Annual Wayne A. McCoy Memorial Historymaker's Program
• 2007–2009 Rosalynn Carter Fellow in Public Policy
• Leadership Atlanta

See Also

• List of female state supreme court justices
• List of African-American jurists