ATLANTA — Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C.I. McBurney is making a name for himself as he presides over proceedings in the grand jury investigation that led to the indictment of former President Donald Trump and his allies for trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.
But who is McBurney? Here are a few things you need to know about the judge:
Who is Robert McBurney?
- Judge McBurney is a very familiar face in Atlanta. He was appointed in 2012 by then Gov. Nathan Deal and has since worked in the Superior Court of Fulton County, the Adult Felony Drug Court and was the Chief Judge of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit from 2018 to 2020.
- McBurney oversaw the selection process for the special purpose grand jury that heard the Trump case, although it's currently unclear whether he will preside over Trump's trial.
- He also served as the assistant district attorney in Fulton County and was also a federal prosecutor for the Northern District of Georgia.
- McBurney graduated from Harvard College in 1990 before receiving his juris doctorate law degree from Harvard in 1995.
- McBurney has presided over some pretty major cases in Fulton County. He was front and center when he overturned Georgia's six-week abortion ban signed into law by Gov. Kemp in 2019 before it was later reinstated in the Supreme Court in 2022.
- The judge also presided over the case which pitted the children of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. against each other in a dispute over possession of his Bible and Nobel Peace Prize.
- He has also earned a reputation for a phrase he uses in his orders, known as "McBurns."