Justice Keith Blackwell, the newest member of the Georgia Supreme Court, arrived with something most of his colleagues didn’t have: an appellate track record.

The last four appointees to the state’s highest court came from government service or the trial bench, so court-watchers could only guess at how they’d go about deciding appeals. But with Blackwell, who joined the court last month, observers can look at the 20 months he spent on the Georgia Court of Appeals.