Columbus Superior Court judge to retire, leaving vacancy for governor to fill
Muscogee Superior Court Judge William Rumer will retire at the end of August, leaving a vacancy to which Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will appoint a replacement.
The position comes up for election again in 2024.
The judge sent Kemp notice of his impending retirement on Monday, saying his service on the bench for 11 years has been an “honor and a privilege,” and his last day of work will be Aug. 31.
“While I have been blessed to have a job that I love in a wonderful community, my wife and I would like to enjoy the fruits of our labor,” he wrote.
Rumer asked Kemp to appoint him a “senior judge,” who presides in cases where other judges have a conflict of interest, are unavailable because of illness, or in other emergencies. Senior judges may serve in any judicial circuit in Georgia.
Then-Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Rumer to the bench in 2010, filling a vacancy left by the resignation of Judge Robert Johnston III.
Rumer’s departure triggers the same replacement process, in which a state judicial nominating commission sorts through candidates for the position before compiling a short list of top nominees it sends to the governor, who makes the final decision.
Local attorneys already are talking about who may seek the job. Stacey Jackson, a prominent criminal defense attorney and lifelong Republican from Harris County, said Wednesday that he will put his name in. Ben Richardson, who has been a state court judge here since 2014, after serving 11 years as solicitor general, said he also will seek the position.
Rumer got his law degree from the University of Georgia in 1975, after graduating with honors from Emory University in 1972 with a degree in history. He was a partner in the firm Rumer-Gunby LLC, having been in private practice in Columbus since 1975, specializing in family law.
He was on a short list of nominees for Superior Court positions in 1995, when Johnston and Judge Doug Pullen were selected.
Rumer is among seven Superior Court judges serving the six-county Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit that besides Muscogee County includes Harris, Chattahoochee, Taylor, Talbot and Marion.
This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 1:27 PM.