John W. Sognier flew missions as a fighter pilot in World War II. He practiced law and was a state legislator. He went on to be chief judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals, and after leaving the court, he picked up another degree.
But Sognier, who died Sept. 6 at the age of 93, is perhaps best known in the legal community for a minor indignity: being booted from the bench at the polls. The Savannah native's 1992 defeat remains the only time in recent memory that an incumbent Georgia appellate court judge has been challenged successfully at the ballot box.
