Justice Melton, 54, ended a 16-year judgeship on Wednesday but says he has enough youthful exuberance for something more significant than retirement. He is joining Troutman Pepper on July 19, the first time in his 30-year legal career that he has worked for anyone other than the state.
Often, Georgia's chief justices end their legal careers when their terms expire, having come later in life to the bench. But during his final days in the job, Justice Melton shared with Law360 his desire to "be in the room" for a little while longer, staying in conversation with the state's decision-makers as they shape what makes Georgia communities work.
"I want it to be something that's interesting, meaningful, that keeps Georgia — I hate to say this — but keeps Georgia on my mind," Justice Melton said of his next role. "That to me is pretty critical, that would be the cherry on the top for me."
Justice Melton spent 11 years in the attorney general's office within the Georgia Department of Law after receiving his law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1991. He dealt with issues ranging from the creation of the Georgia Lottery Corporation to the administration of Georgia's tobacco settlement, and has since maintained a passion for public policy.
"I want to interact with state government still; I want to interact with Georgia courts still. I'm open and interested in doing things beyond that, but I definitely want to keep my finger on the pulse of what's going on in the state," he said.
Justice Melton served a few years as executive counsel to former Gov. Sonny Perdue and helped safeguard Georgia's interests in water rights disputes with Alabama and Florida before Perdue appointed him to the Georgia Supreme Court in 2005. He became chief justice based on seniority in September 2018. He is being replaced by Presiding Justice David E. Nahmias.
Being around policymakers and community stakeholders is important to Justice Melton, who said he feels foreign when not involved in conversations that advance initiatives to make a difference.
"If I'm not in touch with those folks, I feel detached and removed from my environment," he said. "That doesn't necessarily mean that I need to be a key player, but at a minimum, I need to be around it. Along with that comes a real desire to help shape, and have a voice in, what happens around us."
Justice Melton said he had previously considered a run for public office and wasn't ruling that out as an option in the future. He doesn't anticipate returning to the bench.
The opportunity for a "little bit more financially lucrative" role in private practice aligned with all three of Justice Melton's children being at college in the fall. His daughter is at the University of Chicago, his eldest son is at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he's on the mock trial team, and his youngest son is about to attend Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Justice Melton grew up in metropolitan Atlanta, where he still lives, and received an undergraduate degree in international business from Auburn University. It was Justice Melton's father who suggested he study law, which at first didn't appeal to him because he planned to focus on international studies with the goal of working on international issues for corporate America, he said.
But the opportunity to stay close to Atlanta at a good law school proved preferable, and he ended up disliking the first international law class he took at UGA anyway, he said.
"There's very little of what I've done that I thought would ever happen," Justice Melton said. "The one thing that I had a vision for was working in those white marble buildings across from the [state] Capitol, that seemed to always beckon me."
The role of chief justice has been especially fulfilling for Justice Melton, in large part due to the unforeseen need for the state's judiciary to bolster its strength in the face of COVID-19. Justice Melton oversaw the state's judicial coronavirus task force and issued monthly emergency orders for state courts as the head of the Judicial Council of Georgia.
He said it was an informative exercise in that it reaffirmed the importance of various stakeholders working together, the value of friends, and the need to "hash out minutiae and offer it up for further input."
"That's how we operated during the pandemic and we did it out of necessity. It wasn't wisdom or insight, it was really because nobody knew what to do," Justice Melton said. "Everybody had ideas and we were all a little nervous, but coming together gave us comfort and we had such a deep talent pool within our court, within the judiciary, outside of the judiciary, and the spirit was right in that nobody was grandstanding, nobody cared about who got the credit."
The state's judicial emergency orders expired Wednesday, Justice Melton's last day at the court. He said he was pleased to be leaving at a time when the judiciary is strong and in Justice Nahmias' capable hands.
"It's a nice, clean moment in time to make a departure — that's a nice drop-the-mic opportunity," Justice Melton said. "I've learned to really have an increased level of confidence in the judges across the state. We're going to be in good shape, it's not going to be easy, but we're going to be in good shape."
And though Justice Melton only has a few weeks between jobs, he plans to find time for just enough of a taste of retirement to keep him in the game.
"I am planning on playing some golf," said. "I'm horrible but I love it."
--Additional reporting by Brett Barrouquere, Jack Karp and Emily Sides. Editing by Alyssa Miller.
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