ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp Friday named the first Asian-American woman to serve on the highest court of any state in the Southeast.
Carla Wong McMillian, currently serving on the Georgia Court of Appeals, will succeed recently retired Justice Robert Benham on the Georgia Supreme Court.
McMillian, who lives in Fayette County, served previously on the state court there, as a partner with Atlanta-based Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP and as a law clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
McMillian earned a bachelor’s degree at Duke University and a law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law.
Kemp has begun building a track record for diversity in appointments. Last year, he named John King state insurance commissioner following the suspension of Jim Beck, making King Georgia’s first Hispanic to hold statewide constitutional office.
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., essentially became the state’s first female senator when Kemp named her in December to succeed retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson. The only other woman to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate served for only one day back in 1922.
Also on Friday, the governor named Verda Colvin of Macon and John “Trea” Pipkin III of McDonough to the Georgia Court of Appeals.