While Emory University may be quick to claim Leah Ward Sears as their own, the former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court is also a Cavalier—a 1995 graduate of the UVA Law School. Recent reports also place Sears among more exclusive company: President Barack Obama’s short-list of nominees to replace Justice John Paul Stevens.
The New York Times offers a list of candidates here; several additional sources name Sears as a contender. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote in 2009 that Sears was discussed as a potential replacement for Justice David Souter. (That seat ultimately went to Justice Sonia Sotomayor.)
On a related note, the Washington Post recently printed a few interesting comments about the nomination process from the Miller Center of Public Affairs’ Presidential Oral History Program at UVA. Frank Moore, congressional liaison to former President Jimmy Carter, described the clearance process for nominees as such: "The FBI comes to town and starts asking around, and it ruins their law practice."