Kappa Boule
Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity
999 Peachtree Street, N.E., Suite 850
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
October 1, 2012
Governor, State of Georgia
206 Washington Street
Suite 203, State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
Suite 203, State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
Re: Restoring Racial Diversity to the Superior Court of Fulton County
We write to you this time to express our profound concern about the troubling erosion of racial diversity on the Superior Court of Fulton County.
Who We Are and Why We Care
Sigma Pi Phi Fraternally (sometimes known as the "Boule"), is the Nation’s oldest historically-Black Greek letter organization. The Boule is composed of degreed professional men, and it has no undergraduate members. Kappa Boule, the fraternity's first Atlanta affiliate, consists of about 100 members, many of whom have been integrally involved in the civic life of Atlanta, including two former mayors, as well as many of our community's leading businessmen, lawyers and judges. Attached to this letter is a list of some of our current members.
Our members have had a longstanding interest in assuring accountability at all levels of government, including the judiciary. We believe that, to be accountable, our courts must be representative of the diverse communities that they serve. Judicial diversity promotes impartiality by ensuring that no one viewpoint, perspective, or set of values can persistently dominate legal decision making. As Judge Richard Posner has observed, a diverse judiciary “is more representative, and its decisions will therefore command greater acceptance in a diverse society than would the decisions of a mandarin court.”[1] Judge James Wynn has noted that a lack of diversity poses a significant challenge for a judicial system that passes judgment on issues affecting African Americans, women and other minorities.[2]
The need for judicial diversity is especially keen on the Fulton County Superior Court, the largest and most powerful trial court in the State. Because the State Capital is in Fulton County, constitutional challenges and appeals from State agency decisions are heard in this court. In addition, emergency hearings and/or stays of execution and death penalty cases are decided in the Fulton County Superior Court. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of individual litigants are African-Americans, some of whom need a reason to have confidence in the integrity our system of justice.
The Steady Erosion of Racial Diversity on the Superior Court of Fulton County
Over the last ten years, however, the Fulton County Superior Court bench has experienced a steady erosion in racial diversity. In 2002, eight of the eighteen judges on the bench (or 44%) were African-American. Today, only six out of twenty judges (or 30%) are African-American. Based on the 2010 census, the population of Fulton County is 44% African American. Fulton County saw the last African American female judge appointed to the Superior Court bench in 1996 by Governor Zell Miller. Governor Roy Barnes appointed the last African American male to the Fulton County Superior Court bench in 2002. While the bench may once have reflected a racial diversity that was reasonably representative of the population, that is no longer the case.
The current erosion in judicial diversity is certainly not due to a lack of qualified African-American candidates. Fulton County is also home to most of the State's several hundred talented African American lawyers. Over the years, these lawyers have included the first African American woman to be admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as the lawyers who led the battles to desegregate the State's universities, public schools and places of public accommodation. More recently, the county's African American lawyers have included several trial and appellate judges, three of Atlanta's mayors, two presidents of the Atlanta Bar Association, partners in every major law Atlanta law firm, and the Chief Legal Officers of major institutions such as United Parcel Service, Pepsiso, Inc., and The Home Depot.
What You Can Do: What We Hope You Will Do
We are rapidly reaching a point at which the notion of a judicary composed of the best and brightest legal minds regardless of race will be no more than a bygone memory. We urge you to avoid this consequence by establishing a judicial selection process which achieves accountability through diversity, by placing more African-Americans on the Judicial Nominating Commission, and by appointing qualified African American candidates to the Fulton Superior Court.
Very truly yours,
KAPPA BOULE OF SIGMA PI PHI FRATERNTY
By: ___________________________
Calvin W. McLarin, M.D.
Sire Archon
KAPPA BOULE - SIGMA PI PHI FRATERNITY MEMBERSHIP
Aaron, Hank
Adams, John H.
Aiken, Sr., B.A. Anthony C.
Alexander, William A.
Bacote, Sr., Samuel W.
Baranco, Gregory T.
Beard, Israel
Benham, Robert
Blackburn, II, D.D.S., Benjamin A.
Blackburn, III, Benjamin A.
Brown, Jr., Robert L.
Brown, M.D., Darwin L.
Buncum, Kelvin L.
Chastang, M.B.A. Mark J.
Cleveland, M.D., William H.
Cole, Jr., Thomas W.
Coles, Julius E.
Cook, Samuel D.
Coombs, Jr. Fletcher
Cooper, Clarence
Cooper, M.D. William A.
Darden, Jr., Alvin H.
Dempsey, Jr., Alford J.
Donald, Ph.D. Carlton D.
Douglass, M.D., Paul L.
Edmund, M.D., J.D. Roderick E.
Franklin, Jr., Robert M.
Greer, Esq. Ernest L.
Gulley, Samuel T.
Hackney, Wendell O.
Hall, D.D.S. John E.
Hall, Woodrow A.
Harris, Oscar L.
Harrison, Ira E.
Harrison, James C.
Holloway, M.D., Kelvin J.
Hornbuckle, Napoleon
Horne, Jr., J.D. Lewis C.
Howard, II, Samuel H.
Hughes, George M.
Hunter, Esq. James M.
Johnson, III, Charles S.
Johnson, Leroy R.
Johnson, Michael D.
Jolley, Jr. Samuel D.
Jones, Arnold M.
Jones, Jr. Milton H.
Joyner, Gordon L.
Kennedy, Michael D.
Lomax, Michael L.
Mason, Jr., Herman S.
Matthews, M.D., Roland P.
Maupin, Jr., M.D., John E.
McBride, Cornell
McLaurin, M.D. Calvin W.
Moody, Jr., Charles D.
Norris, Alfred L.
Organ, M.D., Brian C.
Patterson, Esq. P. Andrew
Patterson, III, M.D., Pickens A.
Patton, William C.
Pinado, Alan E.
Porche, Bernard
Rachal, Tyrone
Rhodes, Jacob A.
Richardson, Arthur H.
Robinson, Jr., George K.
Robinson, Ray M.
Russell, Herman-Jerome
Russell, Michael B.
Sampson, Esq. Thomas G.
Sampson, II, Thomas G.
Scott, David K.
Sears, Jr. Bertram E.
Shropshire, Sr., D.D.S. William B.
Sims, Frank L.
Sinkfield, Richard H.
Smart, J.D. Donald E.
Spikes, Esq. Jesse J.
Stanley, III, William J.
Stephens, Jr., Robert L.
Strothers, J.D. Bruce E.
Taylor, B.A. David V.
Taylor, Bernard
Thomas, Jr., D.B.A.R. Roosevelt
Thomas, Jr., Ph.D. Norman H.
Thomas, Sr., Norman H.
Tidwell, Isaiah
Tompkins, Esq., Jeffrey E.
Tookes, M.D. Darryl J.
Turner, Dwayne L.
Turner, Jr., B.A. Dennis
Turpeau, Aaron M.
Ward, Horace T.
Ware, Carl
Warnock, Raphael G.
Weaver, M.D. William L.
Williams, James E.
Work, M.D. Frederick T.
Yancey, Sr. Asa G.
[1] Richard A. Posner, Law, Pragmatism and Democracy 71 (2003).
[2] James A. Wynne and Eli P. Mazur, Judicial Diversity: Where Independence and Accountability Meet. 67 Albany Law Review 755 (2004).
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