The Red and Black

Issue date: 7/2/09 Section: News

MARTIN [Click to enlarge]

A University alumna has been nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge Beverly Martin, a Macon native, was chosen to fill a vacancy left by Judge Robert Anderson III, also from Macon. Anderson achieved senior status after nearly 30 years on the Federal Appeals Court.

Martin was nominated alongside Judge Joseph Greenaway, who would serve on the Third Circuit.

"Judge Greenaway and Judge Martin have distinguished themselves as first-rate jurists with unflagging integrity and evenhandedness," Obama said.

In order to be confirmed for the position, Martin must first be approved by the Senate, and resistance to the appointment is unlikely.

"I can't imagine her appointment being controversial," said David Shipley, a professor and former dean at the School of Law.

"For district court judges, the norm is they're going to be confirmed most of the time," said Richard Vining, a professor in the Department of Political Science, who specializes in judicial politics. "She's pretty mainstream."

Martin will be the fifth woman of 11 full-time members of the court.

Now 53, Martin could work for a long time on a court where judges can sit until they retire or die.

"Most serve at least 15 years," Vining said.

Martin graduated from the University's School of Law in 1981. She worked for her family's firm for several years before becoming assistant attorney general for Georgia in 1984.

She began work in the U.S. Attorney's Office in 1994 and served as a U.S. District Court Judge since 2000.

"She's very well qualified," Shipley said, who added that Martin had been designated to sit on the federal appeals court "a couple of times already."

Martin could join fellow School of Law graduate Judge James Edmondson on the 11th circuit. Edmondson graduated in 1971 and taught at the University from 1975 to 1984.

"The nomination is certainly a gold star for the law school," Vining said.

Shipley said the law school is "justifiably proud of Judge Martin."

There are 13 federal court circuits. The circuit courts are the last level of appeals courts before the U.S. Supreme court.

The 11th circuit court serves appeals from Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

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