Charles Jones Bethel (born March 3, 1976) is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. He is a former Judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals. Before his judicial tenure, he served as

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...

from Dalton, Georgia.Senator Charlie Bethel
/span>. Senate.ga.gov. Retrieved June 28, 2013. Bethel was first elected Senator in the 2010

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

and served Georgia's 54th district—a constituency which includes Murray and Whitfield counties, and portions of Gordon and Pickens counties as well.

Early life and education

Charlie Bethel graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

in 1998 from the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business with a Bachelor of Business Administration in business management. He stayed with the University of Georgia, graduating with a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the University of Georgia School of Law in 2001. Bethel was admitted to the

State Bar of Georgia The State Bar of Georgia is the governing body of the legal profession in the State of Georgia, operating under the supervision of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Membership is a condition of admission to practice law in Georgia. The State Bar w ...

in 2001 and practiced law from 2003–2005. He is admitted to practice law in all of Georgia's state courts, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, and the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. Bethel was an assistant

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

for the city of Dalton from 2003–2004.

Political career

Bethel was elected in 2010 and sworn into the Georgia Senate in 2011. Bethel was a three-term Senator and sat on the Senate Government Oversight, Insurance and Labor, Judiciary, Judiciary Non-Civil, and Reapportionment and Redistricting committees.

Judicial career

Georgia Court of Appeals

On November 9, 2016, the day after being elected to his fourth Senate term, Bethel was appointed to be a Judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals by Governor Nathan Deal. He assumed the seat of

Michael P. Boggs Michael P. Boggs (born December 28, 1962) is the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia (U.S. state), Supreme Court of Georgia, a former judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals and a former nominee to be a United States federal judge, United ...

who was appointed to the Supreme Court of Georgia. He took the bench on January 1, 2017, for a term that would have ended on December 31, 2018.

Georgia Supreme Court

On September 14, 2018, Governor Deal appointed Bethel to the Supreme Court of Georgia to fill the seat vacated by the retirement of

Harris Hines Preston Harris Hines (September 6, 1943 – November 4, 2018) was the chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court in the United States for a span which began in 2017 and ended in 2018. Early years and education Preston Hines was born on September ...

. He was sworn into office on October 2, 2018.

References

External links

* Welcome to the Georgia General Assembly
Legis.ga.gov. Retrieved June 28, 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bethel, Charlie 1976 births Living people Georgia Court of Appeals judges Republican Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators People from Dalton, Georgia University of Georgia alumni University of Georgia School of Law alumni 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American judges Justices of the Supreme Court of Georgia (U.S. state)