Atlanta attorney admitted to U.S. Supreme Court

Welcome back, everybody. A local attorney has received a national honor today. That is the right to argue in front of the highest court in the land. Attorney Gerald Griggs was recently admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, meaning he's now formally authorized to represent clients before the high court. Fox 5's Larry Spruill is in downtown Atlanta. And Larry, you talked with the attorney today. Hello. Good evening Courtney and Tom and he tells me that there's a very small number of attorneys nationwide who can fight cases in front of the Supreme Court. He tells me that number is even smaller for black attorneys. There are only 300 in the country that actively practice and only 19 African-Americans. So it's very rare to be admitted to the highest court in the land. It's a very elite group, says attorney Gerald Griggs. And he's now a member of that small circle. Recently, I was sworn in to practice in front of the highest court in the United States. And that's one of the biggest honors as a civil rights attorney is to be able to practice at that level. But that number of attorneys here in Metro Atlanta is even smaller. Maybe two or three at the most. It means a lot. You know, being from Atlanta, the birthplace of civil rights, to being the former president of the Georgia NAACP, to being a practicing civil rights attorney, it means a lot. Griggs says he's grateful for those who paved the way. It's an honor. You know, I look up to great civil rights lawyers like Thurgood Marshall and Fred Gray and so many others that have done this before me. Griggs is no stranger to fighting or getting into good trouble. The Atlanta branch NAACP immediate past president says his passion for civil rights is what got him here. Now he's ready to fight those cases inside the highest court in the land. Police brutality issues around qualified immunity around the Graham versus Connor standard to make sure that we have. Full information about what the court believes is reasonable and how we stop And how we stop the these situations from continuing to happen. So that's my primary focus. And then, of course, voting rights. And I asked Griggs, when can he start fighting those cases in front of the Supreme Court? He tells me he can start right now and he can also assist other attorneys who have cases pending. We're live in downtown Atlanta. I'm Larry Sproul. Yep. Quite a big feather in his cap. Larry, thanks.