Release date: Oct. 11, 2007

Justice Sears Among Marriage Proponents to Speak at Emory Conference

Contact: April Bogle at 404-712-8314 or abogle@law.emory.edu
Contact: Elaine Justice: 404-727-0643, elaine.justice@emory.edu

Leah Ward Sears, chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court and an Emory University School of Law. alumna, will be among the leading scholars discussing the future of law and religion--and specifically the future of marriage--at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25 as part of the Emory Center for the Study of Law and Religion's Silver Anniversary conference.

Sears will appear with Stephen Carter of Yale University and Enola Aird of The Motherhood Project to present "Law, Religion, and the Future of the African American Family" at the law school, 1301 Clifton Rd. The event is free and open to the public; registration is not required for this portion of the conference, which runs Oct. 24-26.

Morehouse College President Robert M. Franklin will chair the session, which has been designated this year's Decalogue Lecture. Morehouse, Spelman College and the Interdenominational Theological Center are co-sponsors.

In 2006, Sears formed the Supreme Court of Georgia's Advisory Committee on Healthy Marriage to study the legal consequences associated with the growing fragmentation of Georgia families, and to make recommendations for addressing their root causes. Sears' presentation is titled "The Marriage Gap: A Case For Strengthening Marriage in the 21st Century."

Sears recently shared some of her ideas on the topic:

Q: Today less than half of U.S. households are headed by married couples. Why do you call for a renewed focus on strengthening marriage?

Sears: There is a growing gap – socially, spiritually, emotionally, financially – between those kids who have married parents and those kids who do not. There is something intrinsic in a marriage bond that makes it better for children. Marriage is the best child welfare, crime prevention, anti-poverty program we have. We must, therefore, protect it.

Q: Why should family law be concerned with building a healthy marriage culture in America?

Sears: The law is getting hit with criminal cases, divorces, child custody cases – we are dealing with the consequences of fragmented families every day. When I started as a superior court judge in the late 1980s, 20 percent of my cases would in some way have to do with failure of the family to come together and stay together. Now that figure is 65 percent.

Q: How can law and public policy respond to the marriage gap?

Sears: Most of the solutions will not come through the law, but so many of the consequences are hitting our legal and judicial systems. That’s why I started the Supreme Court Commission on Children, Marriage, and Family Law that I hope will make a positive difference for Georgia families. This is the first commission of its kind in a court ever, so this is new ground and we are still assessing the issues. What is needed is more public attention on the nature and purpose of marriage. I advocate for a body of family law that is, above all else, responsive to the changing needs of our time. Marriage has been found to be the best vehicle there is for children and the laws should be in place to support marriage, but not to the point where they discriminate against families that are constituted differently.

Sears was the first African American woman to serve as Superior Court Judge in Georgia, and was later the first woman and the youngest person to sit on the Supreme Court of Georgia. Her numerous civic and professional affiliations include serving as a Rosalynn Carter Honorary Fellow in Public Policy.

Emory University (www.emory.edu) is one of the nation’s leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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