We need to in this country begin again to raise civil discourse to another level. I mean, we shout and scream and yell and get very little accomplished, but you can disagree very much with the next guy and still be friends and acquaintances.

Sears is friends with Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas due to their home towns in southeastern Georgia. However in February 2009 Sears withdrew her name from consideration in order to pursue other opportunities. In contrast to the majority which held that using tax dollars collected from a special purpose tax that did not include providing all middle and high school students with laptops Justice Sears argued in her dissent along with Justice Melton that allocating tax proceeds for laptops was not an abuse of discretion.

Leah Ward Sears (born June 13 1955) is an American jurist and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Sears was the first African-American female Chief Justice in the United States.