Blog for Democracy

Court of Appeals

Justice Johnson is retiring at the end of the year and so far, there are four lawyers who have announced they are running for his seat. I could tell you about all of them, but I won’t. Christopher McFadden is, by far, the most qualified.

McFadden has practiced primarily before the Court of Appeals of Georgia and the Supreme Court of Georgia for twenty years. He has handled a wide variety of civil, criminal, and domestic appeals. Over eighty of his cases have resulted in published opinions, most by the Court of Appeals of Georgia. He has made dozens of oral arguments, most to the Court of Appeals of Georgia. He is a founder and past chair of the Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar of Georgia.

Not to mention, he’s co-author of Georgia Appellate Practice, which is the book on appellate practice.

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26 responses to “Court of Appeals”

  1. Judy Avatar
    Judy

    Your point is well taken. I have known Chris for many years and I can assure you he has never and would never make inappropriate comments, nor would his eyes “linger” where they should not. What he will do, probably better and more often than most people, is make you think about what you are saying, expect you to support your opinions rather than just spew nonsense, challenge you to question your own opinions and throughly consider the opinions of others. He sets the same high standards for himself and meets them more often than not. For some, I suppose his approach can be intimidating — or creepy in some way — but an attitude such as his is essential to an impartial and honorable judiciary.

  2. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    There was nothing of the latter variety that I can recall. He just made me uncomfortable for reasons that I can’t really articulate. It could very well be an Asperger’s sort of thing, and he might be a great judge for all I know, particularly if he’s only hearing cases on a 3-judge panel so there are 2 other questioners to mitigate the discomfort a bit.

  3. PaulaG Avatar
    PaulaG

    Well said, Sara. But I am interested in hearing more about the “creepy” factor. There’s creepy, and then there’s creepy. I worked with a guy once who was probably the best appellate litigator in the state where I was living, but he undoubtedly had undiagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome. No way would you want to have to talk to him at a party, but he was pretty harmless and I would have given him any case of mine to appeal and he’d probably make a terrific judge. On the other hand, I’ve also met lawyers whose eyes linger in inappropriate places, make weird personal comments, etc. These people I want no part of and have no place in the judiciary.

  4. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    Melvin: You might have a lovely little fantasy in your head of me as a Legally Blonde character, but the others on this blog who know me well know it isn’t true. I’ve been practicing law for just shy of a decade and haven’t been in a frat house in at least 15 years. I take my interactions with judicial candidates seriously, and I never once mentioned anything about his appearance despite your best attempts to put words in my mouth. I’ve met McFadden twice and had substantive conversations with him as a practicing attorney to a judicial candidate, and came away both times thinking that the interactions were decidedly uncomfortable, and that he was a little strange. However, as I have said REPEATEDLY, the guy is undoubtedly qualified. I haven’t decided one way or another who I am going to vote for (nor have I indicated anywhere on this blog whether I have ruled out voting for McFadden–I haven’t) in part because I have not met all of the candidates yet, but the interactions I’ve had with the individual candidates do influence my decisions. In this way, judicial candidates are no different than any other candidate for office–if they leave a voter uncomfortable after the interaction, they might have lost a vote. If you have a problem with this, I suggest you start working on changing Georgia’s constitution so that judges are no longer elected.

    Now please, take your ad hominem attacks and misplaced assumptions about me and shove them up your ass.

  5. JerryT Avatar
    JerryT

    I’m sure Sara can speak for herself, but as for me: IF the choice were between incompetence and creepy, I might vote for creepy. But that is hardly ever the choice.

  6. Melvin Avatar
    Melvin

    @Sara

    This isn’t a discussion about who you would rather date (oh, he’s soooo not Johnny Depp), but rather an exchange about the qualifications for someone who will mete out justice for decades to come.

    It’s this casual dismissal of candidates because they don’t conform to your unattainable, hollywood-derived standards that cleanly illustrates why the general public gets a bad rap for being superficial and stupid.

    Take your personal feelings back to whatever fraternity house you just stumbled out of.

  7. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    I haven’t met Hunter-Strothers yet but I’ve seen video from a candidate forum and was not impressed. I am also, however, somewhat biased against judicial candidates who are younger and less experienced than I am. At least for a little while longer…

  8. The Ed Avatar
    The Ed

    That’s no reason to not give an opinion.

  9. Jen B. Avatar
    Jen B.

    No details on why she’s the best? Nice one.

    Also, you should know better than tout someone’s “finish” as whether they’re a good candidate or not. After all, Gail Buckner finished first in the Georgia SOS race in ’06 and she certainly wasn’t the best. McFadden receives a lot of support from practicing lawyers, but not a lot from the general public because they generally don’t pay a lot of attention to these races. Not to mention, a lot of Dems voted for Meyer von Bremen because they felt he had enough name recognition to possibly make it into the runoff.

  10. Princess Avatar
    Princess

    I think the courts need a fresh approach. I’m with Adrienne Hunter-Strothers – http://www.adriennehunterstrothers2010.com. After you meet her once, you will see why she is the best for the Court of Appeals.

    McFadden might have written the “book” but he came in 4th in 2008 for an Appeals statewide election.

  11. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    As I was saying, it’s sometimes largely an artifact of the campaigning process. And yes, often deeply cerebral people are perceived as being just a bit strange. That’s above & beyond our usual concerns here too. But again, largely irrelevant to whether or not they’d make for a ‘good candidate’ or even (or especially) how they might do in the job or position if successful. JMP

  12. Amanda Avatar
    Amanda

    I agree with Rita. I have known Chris both personally and professionally for a number of years, and “creepy” is the last way I would ever conceive to describe Chris McFadden. He is one of the most erudite individuals I know, always taking time to ponder carefully prior to offering a response. As a practicing attorney, I feel that Chris possesses the qualities I appreciate most in a judge at the appellate level.

  13. rita Avatar
    rita

    Creepy? Cerebral, maybe, but definitely not creepy! I have seen Chris in practice, and I have the highest regard for his ethics, (which I cannot say for any other judge or for most other attorneys I know). Besides, when it comes to being a judge the important things are ability to interpret the spirit of the law, and the ability to decide issues in an unbiased manner. The only time personaility is important is for actors, marketers, and people that are not able to see beyond the surface.

  14. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Further illustrating my point above: In Re ‘creepy’:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gwr8KJO0Fc

    JMP

  15. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Sadly not an unfamiliar story in Ga. & elsewhere. Often the best that can be said is ‘not as bad as imagined’ from Lester Maddox on down I guess.

  16. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    As a practicing attorney, I end up meeting a lot of the CoA candidates when they come through the office wanting to ask for our votes. It might not matter to you much, but it matters to me whether the person I meet seems creepy. I don’t ask for ideological rigidity out of my judicial candidates because that would be wrong (since I don’t think they should be elected to their positions at all), and as I said McFadden is unquestionably qualified on paper for the job. But he presents as a fairly weird guy, and that means something. Even if it just means I may not want to ever have to argue in front of him.

    Having said that, Sarah Doyle was by far the least impressive of the candidates I met last time (in the sense that she seemed to lack gravitas) but she still won, and so far she has not been a bad justice as far as I know. I think I voted for Meyer von Bremen last time, hoping that his familiarity with the other side of lawmaking would be a good influence on the court. You see how far that got me.

  17. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Always good to know, and of course speaks well of him too actually.

  18. MouthoftheSouth Avatar
    MouthoftheSouth

    McFadden, much like his mythical forebears, is a great metalworker, smith and stoneworker. Fierce in battle, his main weapons are axes, but they also use bows, swords, shields and mattocks.

    Also, interesting to note, both males and females of his species have beards.

    Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_(Middle-earth)#Characteristics

  19. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Well if memory serves, he co-authored it. But I’ve got little doubt that he’s qualified too. Which is always nice to hear. JMP

  20. Steve Golden Avatar
    Steve Golden

    I mean, the fact that he wrote the damned book impresses me quite a bit. He wrote a freaking book about appelate law. That’s qualification, right there.

  21. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Yes, and he carries that book around with him too. But ‘creepy’ or strange, unusual, or just ‘tetched’ a bit in the head? If we demanded wholly rational actors here? They’d all be either up North, or keeping a wide swath away from most political involvement today. I’ve coined this the ‘rationality’ problem. If you were wholly of sound mind? No one would be doing much of this ‘stuff. You’ve got to have some single minded ambitions and then some serious delusions to go along with your obvious cognitive dissonance. And that’s just the entrance requirements. Stay in the game long enough, and you’ve got to add quite a bit of ruthless determination and monomania often too. But if we wanted just the ‘normals’ running our politics? We’d have to first empty out the Capitols. Everywhere. JMP

  22. Jen B. Avatar
    Jen B.

    One more thing. The Court of Appeals has produced some completely shitastic opinions regarding the criminal justice system. And I’m concerned that the other candidates won’t be able to appreciate cj issues because they lack experience in that area.

  23. Steve Golden Avatar
    Steve Golden

    He is unquestionably the most qualified, IMHO

  24. Jen B. Avatar
    Jen B.

    My only interaction has been via email, so.. I can’t give an opinion on the subject.

  25. The Ed Avatar
    The Ed

    Not just you.

    The shit thing is that because his name is so far down on the ballot he’ll never win.

    God I love democracy.

  26. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    I’ve met him twice. He is undoubtedly qualified, but kinda creepy in person. (At least, I found him creepy.)

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