John D. Geathers currently serves on the South Carolina Court of Appeals as an Associate Judge. He was elected to his current position on May 21, 2008, to fill the unexpired term of John W. Kittredge, who was elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court.

Judge Geathers has previously taught South Carolina Administrative Law at the University of South Carolina School of Law and the Charleston School of Law as an adjunct professor. He has also co-authored a treatise on the regulation of alcoholic beverages in South Carolina, contributed as an author to an administrative law treatise, and authored various other articles.

Prior to his election to the Court of Appeals, he served for thirteen years as an Administrative Law Judge with the South Carolina Administrative Law Court. From 1987 until his election to the Administrative Law Court in 1995, he served as Senior Staff Counsel to the Office of Senate Research of the South Carolina Senate. He is a member of both the South Carolina Bar and North Carolina Bar. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1983 with a degree in political science and again from the School of Law in 1986. He resides in Blythewood, SC with his wife. He has two children and two granddaughters.