Nels Peterson and Britt Grant have been recommended to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal as finalists for three seats on the Georgia Court of Appeals. Peterson and Grant are among the best lawyers of their generation, and they are well known and highly regarded within the conservative legal movement. It is great to see them recommended for appointment to the bench.

Peterson currently works for the University of Georgia as Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs & Secretary to the Board of Regents. Before that, Nels also served as Solicitor General of Georgia under Attorney General Sam Olens, as Executive Counsel to Governor Sonny Perdue, as a litigator in the Atlanta office of King and Spalding, and as a law clerk to Judge Bill Pryor on the 11th Circuit. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served as the executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and Executive Vice President of the Harvard Federalist Society.

Grant currently serves as Solicitor General of Georgia under Attorney General Sam Olens. Before serving as SG, she served as the head of legal policy in the AG’s office, as a litigator in the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland and Ellis, and as a law clerk to Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit. She is a graduate of Stanford Law School, where she served as President of the Stanford Federalist Society.

Governor Deal has made judicial appointments a priority, and he has an outstanding record in that regard, so I am optimistic that these two standouts will get the nod. Among Governor Deal’s other standout appointments are Keith Blackwell to the Georgia Supreme Court, and Lisa Branch and Carla Wong McMillian to the Georgia Court of Appeals. If the next Republican President can replicate Governor Deal’s success in this area, constitutional conservatives will have much to be thankful for.