Justice Keith R. BlackwellAtlanta, February 28, 2020 – Justice Keith R. Blackwell announced today that he will resign from the Supreme Court of Georgia on Nov. 18, 2020, the last day of the August Term of Court. Gov. Brian Kemp will appoint his replacement.

Citing family obligations, Justice Blackwell said in a letter to the governor that he had decided to return to private law practice. “Our oldest daughter will leave for college in only a couple of years, and her sisters will follow not long behind,” he wrote, adding that, “I have decided that it is best for my family that I return to the private practice of law.”

Justice Blackwell, 44, was appointed to Georgia’s highest court in July 2012 by then- Gov. Nathan Deal. Prior to that appointment, he served for two years on the state’s intermediate appellate court, the Court of Appeals. Justice Blackwell previously served as a law clerk to Judge J.L. Edmondson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He also served as an assistant district attorney in Cobb County and practiced law with Alston & Bird LLP and Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs LLP. Justice Blackwell is a graduate of the University of Georgia and the University of Georgia School of Law. He was born and raised in Cherokee County and now lives in Cobb County with his wife, Angela, and their three daughters.

Considering that Justice Robert Benham is retiring from the Court effective this Sunday, March 1, Justice Blackwell told the governor he believed that his own resignation in November would minimize the disruption to the court by putting some time between the two departures.

“I count as the greatest honors of my professional life to have served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia and as a Judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia,” Justice Blackwell said in his letter to the governor. “In my years of judicial service, I have been especially privileged to serve alongside my former and present colleagues, talented and tireless men and women who reflect – by their integrity, their collegiality, their professionalism, their scholarship, and their shared commitment to the rule of law and the principle of equal justice under the law – the highest standards of public service.”