Strange Bedfellows

Today, Leah Sears was sworn in as the new Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. This is a big deal, because, as the AJC reports,

Sears is the first black woman ever to head the highest appeals court in any of the 50 states, although there have been woman chief judges in the nonfederal appeals courts for the District of Columbia, and a Hispanic woman has been chief justice in New Mexico.

What made the occasion particularly strange though, is that Sears, a liberal Democrat, is good friends with US Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, who was present at the swearing in ceremony. While a liberal/conservative friendship isn't abnormal, considering the Georgia Republican Party viciously campaigned against Sears, and that Justice Thomas is certainly one of the heroes of the American conservative movement, I just think it's a bit weird. Certainly, Thomas didn't play the part of partisan at the ceremonies:

Thomas, like Sears a native of the Savannah, Ga., area, called the event "a day when my pride runs deep as a human being, as a member of the judiciary and as a Georgian" and added, "I never thought that in my lifetime I would be able to witness a black woman as the chief justice of the state of Georgia's Supreme Court."

Thomas paid tribute to former ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who delivered the oath of office to Sears, as a man whose work in the civil rights movement made it "possible for us to be here today in our various capacities and positions to witness this historic event."

He made only a passing reference to the political waiting game over whether there soon will be a vacancy on the nation's highest court.

"As we ended our term at our Supreme Court — at your Supreme Court — the winds of controversy swirled about the court's decisions and, unfortunately, about the imagined resignations. As I considered what was happening around our building, I thought about the calm civility of today's events. I thought of the wonderful times that we would have here today," he said.

Thomas also said he was confident Sears will "call them as you see them" and told her, "Those of us who are judges know that it is easy to judge when you already have your mind made up. It is hard to judge when you have to make your mind up."

Either way, good luck to new Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice, Leah Sears.