Leah Ward Sears

Leah Ward Sears (born June 13, 1955) is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. state of Georgia. She is also Chair of the Judicial Council of Georgia, the 200 million dollar agency in charge of the state judicial system. When sworn in on June 28, 2005, Sears became the first African-American female Chief Justice in the United States. When she was first appointed as justice in 1992 by then Governor Zell Miller, she became the first woman and youngest person to sit on the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Sears is considered a potential U.S. Supreme Court nominee by President Barack Obama to become a Supreme Court Justice with the planned June 2009 retirement of David Souter.

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