Supreme Court of Georgia Chief Justice Michael P. Boggs is this year’s recipient of Leadership Georgia’s J.W. Fanning Award, presented during its Alumni Awards Gala.
The Fanning Award is presented annually to a Georgian whose statewide contributions through progressive leadership and service have been broad in scope and rich in achievement.
Chief Justice Boggs has served as a Justice of the state’s highest appellate court since 2016. He previously served as a Judge on the Court of Appeals of Georgia from 2012 through 2016, as a Superior Court Judge for the Waycross Judicial Circuit from 2004 to 2012, and as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 2000 to 2004.
In 2004, Chief Justice Boggs founded and presided over the Waycross Judicial Circuit Drug Court Program and served as a member of the Judicial Council of Georgia’s Standing Committee on Accountability Courts. Chief Justice Boggs later co-chaired the Georgia Criminal Justice Reform Council from 2012 to 2018 and currently serves as a member of the Georgia Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission, where he serves as chairman of the Mental Health Courts and Corrections subcommittee.
The Chief Justice currently serves as chairman of the national steering committee of Justice Counts, an initiative led by the Council of State Governments Justice Center and supported by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, working to improve the availability and utility of criminal justice data in policy-making decisions. He also serves as an advisory member of the Council on Criminal Justice, a national criminal justice policy organization, and serves as a member of the Council’s Veterans Justice Commission.
Chief Justice Boggs also chairs the Judicial Council of Georgia and sits as a member of the Mercer University Board of Trustees, the Mercer University School of Law School Board of Visitors, and the Board of Directors of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation.
Chief Justice Boggs was raised in Waycross and earned his undergraduate degree from Georgia Southern College and his Juris Doctor degree from Mercer University School of Law. Presiding Justice Boggs lives in Pierce County with his wife Heather, a kindergarten teacher in the Ware County public school system.
Photo Credit Leadership Georgia