Failed Georgia Supreme Court candidates violated ethics rules, says commission

Georgia's Judicial Qualifications Commission stated that two candidates for the Georgia Supreme Court — who failed to unseat the incumbents — violated election code of conduct.

Key Takeaways:

• Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin, who were candidates for the Georgia Supreme Court and made public comments promising to restore access to abortion in the pro-life state, also publicly endorsed each other.

• The Judicial Qualifications Commission said this violates judicial ethics rules.

• Both women failed to unseat current Georgia Supreme Court justices in the state's election on June 4.

The Details:

The Judicial Qualifications Commission, which oversees allegations of judicial misconduct, issued two statements about Jordan and Rankin, who were both running for seats on the Georgia Supreme Court. The commission said it "reasonably believes" the women violated Georgia’s Code of Judicial Conduct by publicly endorsing each other, and by publicly promising to promote abortion if elected.

The statements noted that both women appeared at pro-abortion events and promised to "restore abortion rights" if elected, with that promise likewise appearing on promotional campaign material. Jordan specifically was criticized for promoting an endorsement from Reproductive Freedom for All and using it in campaign material, boasting that she had been named “a champion for reproductive freedom!”

The committee said the complaints can be referred to a full investigative panel, and they could face sanctions or other disciplinary action. Given that both women's campaigns failed, as voters did not elect them to the Supreme Court, it's not clear if the commission will want to continue the investigation into these violations.

While abortion activists, including Rankin and Jordan themselves, have claimed this violates their free speech, the commission pointed out that their pro-abortion promises violate a rule which “prohibits judicial candidates from making statements or promises that commit candidates with respect to issues."

The candidates failed to unseat the incumbents on June 4.

Zoom Out:

This is not the first time ethical questions have been raised about abortion industry activists infiltrating state Supreme Courts. The most notable example is in Wisconsin, where not one, but two former Planned Parenthood attorneys were elected to the state Supreme Court.

Last year, Susan Crawford was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. As Live Action News previously reported:

She had served as a Dane County Circuit Court judge since 2018, and was an assistant attorney general in both Wisconsin and Iowa. But for the pro-life movement, she is most notable for her work with Planned Parenthood and the ACLU Reproductive Rights Project, in which she helped to block a 2011 Wisconsin law requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. She told voters she would not recuse herself from any abortion-related cases, as “[t]he law does not require judges to automatically recuse just because they have done some kind of legal work in the past as a lawyer.”

One year later, the second Planned Parenthood attorney was elected. Chris Taylor had likewise worked as an attorney and public policy director for Planned Parenthood, and said she would not recuse herself from abortion-related cases.

“I worked for Planned Parenthood 15 years ago. You usually do not see judges recuse themselves because they worked for a law firm that had an attorney appear before them,” Taylor said. “But it’s on a case-by-case basis. I take it seriously.”

The Bottom Line:

At issue in all of these cases is that of judicial fairness. The job of a justice is to interpret the law, not change it or create new legislation. People with an open pro-abortion bias have no business making rulings related to abortion.