MARIETTA - David Nahmias, who prosecuted terrorists in Washington and Atlanta before being appointed to the state Supreme Court in August, expressed confidence in the decision to try suspected terrorists in New York City, although he doesn't particularly like the idea. The justice was the guest speaker of the Marietta Kiwanis Club on Thursday.

"The Justice Department will do the best that they can. The jurors will be fair and the courts will provide fair trial for Khalid Sheik Mohammad and other people. It'll work itself out," he told the luncheon crowd filled with members of at least three Kiwanis clubs, several judges in Cobb and the state appeals court and his court colleague from Marietta, Justice P. Harris Hines.

"I understand this as an armed conflict, and there's a whole separate body of law for armed conflict," he said. "We can do it in traditional courts. The question is, is it the best way to do it?"

Nahmias grew up in DeKalb County, the son of an Egyptian father and German mother who had immigrated to the United States after World War II and met in medical school. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School, and clerked under U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He was the U.S. Attorney in Atlanta from December 2004 until his appointment to this court.

"My parents' lives and my life, to a large extent, are great illustrations of the opportunities that exist in this country and this state for people who work hard and get a good education and play by the rules. As I said when I was appointed, I believe that underlying so many of those opportunities is the rule of law. No one is above or below the law in this country."

One of his priorities as a justice, Nahmias said, is to communicate clearly in his opinions. Every year, the state's seven Supreme Court justices each write about 50 opinions and together dispose of about 2,000 cases, he said. Georgia's high court justices serve six-year terms.

"It's important for us to explain our reasoning and to try to make the law clear and consistent across the body of law so lawyers and citizens can better understand what their legal obligations are," Nahmias said. "I believe the law - and particularly the rule of law- can't endure over the long run unless it emanates from the collective wisdom of our citizens and not just the individual wisdom of any judge or group of judges on a court. ... We the people are the only source of law and justice in this country."

"Sometimes as a judge you may think the law is silly, or it's unwise, or even bad. In my view, that's not your job. Your job is to enforce the law," he said. "You may say in the course of doing that you don't really like it, but I believe my right to change the law is the same as yours: I get one vote at the ballot box. I don't get to change the law through judicial opinions."When asked his opinion on closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, he responded that Guantanamo had become a label and pointed out that both presidential candidates in 2008 said it should be closed.

"Guantanamo was selected originally because it was thought that federal judges would not have jurisdiction there, and that proved to be wrong by a 5-4 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. Once there's jurisdiction over Guantanamo, there's no real need to have a Guantanamo - other than we've spent probably half a billion dollars building prisons and staffing them at Guantanamo. But we can do that in Illinois."

Hines, who has been on the state Supreme Court since 1995, said his newest colleague has been a pleasure to work with.

"He's extraordinarily bright. He's a person with an insightful mind and is a delightful colleague. He's a great addition to the Georgia Supreme Court and an asset to the laws of Georgia," Hines said.

Scott Chadwick of east Cobb, a Kiwanis member, said he too was impressed after hearing the new justice.

"He sounds like a person of conservative bent, which I think we really need on the Supreme Court of Georgia," Chadwick said.