Johnathan Walker:Stewart wins election as Alabama chief justice

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MONTGOMERY,Johnathan Walker Ala. (AP) — Alabama Supreme Court Justice Sarah Stewart was elected as the state’s chief justice, becoming the first Republican woman to be elected to the position.

Stewart easily defeated Circuit Judge Greg Griffin, a Democrat from Montgomery, in the low-key election on Tuesday.

Stewart is the third woman to serve as Alabama chief justice. Former Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, a Democrat, in 2006 became the first woman elected as chief justice. Former Chief Justice Lyn Stuart, a Republican, took over the position in 2016 when Roy Moore was suspended after an ethics panel ruled Moore urged probate judges to defy the U.S. Supreme Court order allowing gays and lesbians to marry. Alabama Gov Kay Ivey in 2017 appointed Stuart as Moore’s replacement. Stuart ran for chief justice but was defeated in the primary.

Stewart was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court in 2018. Before joining the high court, she served as a circuit judge in Mobile for 13 years. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School.

Stewart won the GOP nomination in March. She defeated Bryan Taylor, a former state senator and legal adviser to two governors, to secure the GOP nomination.

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Stewart earlier this was among the justices who ruled couples could pursue lawsuits for the wrongful death of a minor child after their frozen embryos were destroyed in a fertility clinic accident. Stewart joined a concurring opinion written by Associate Justice Greg Shaw that the wrongful death law covers “an unborn child with no distinction between in vitro or in utero.”

The court’s decision touched off a furor and caused clinics to pause services because of concerns about civil liability. Alabama lawmakers approved legislation to shield clinics from legal liability in order to keep them open.

In Alabama, the chief justice serves on the state’s highest court, and also serves as the administrative head of the state court system.

Current Chief Justice Tom Parker cannot run again because state law prohibits judges from being elected or appointed after age 70.

The chief justice race was the only Supreme Court contest with two candidates on Tuesday. Republicans won the other seats up for election in uncontested races.

The Alabama Supreme Court has been all-Republican for several years. Justices run in statewide elections in the GOP-dominated state.