Monday, February 10, 2025

Top 5 This Week

Related Posts

Judge Allows Georgia Prosecutor Disciplinary Body

 A Georgia judge has denied a “preliminary challenge to block a commission,” titled the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission. The Commission was created to discipline and remove state prosecutors who violated prescribed standards. In its opinion, the judge ruled that the Commission does not violate the U.S. or state constitution.
Republican lawmakers revived the legislation for the Commission this year after creating it in 2023. Democrats sought to thwart the legislation. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker on Tuesday rejected the request for an injunction against the creation of the Commission.
One Democrat talking point asserted in their opposition to the Commission was their alleged “fear the commission has one primary goal: derailing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘ prosecution of former President Donald Trump.” Republicans assert that the Commission is “needed to discipline so-called rogue prosecutors who are refusing to enforce laws.”
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation last year creating the Commission. The Commission could not begin operating because the state Supreme Court refused to approve rules “governing the Commission’s conduct.” As reported, the justices said they had “grave doubts” about the high court’s ability to regulate the decisions made by district attorneys.
Lawmakers then removed the requirement for court approval, a change Kemp signed into law. The commission began operating April 1.
On a national level, as reported, “Republicans in Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Florida have pushed back on prosecutors who announced they would pursue fewer drug possession cases and shorter prison sentences as a matter of criminal justice reform.”
Although the underlying lawsuit is still pending before Whitaker, she expressed grave doubts about its arguments that the law violates prosecutorial discretion, a fundamental of the American judicial system through which prosecutors decide what charges to bring and how severe of a sentence to seek.
The prosecutors assert a curious argument in opposing the Commission. They say the “law violates Georgia’s constitutional separation of powers by requiring district attorneys to review every single case on its individual merits.” District attorneys argue that they should be able to reject prosecution of whole categories of crimes as a matter of policy. But Whitaker found that the requirement that every case be reviewed “does not meaningfully impair prosecutorial discretion.” Whitaker was also skeptical of the claim that state lawmakers are improperly intruding on the judicial branch by regulating prosecutors.
“Because the Georgia Constitution expressly authorizes the General Assembly to impose statutory duties on district attorneys and to create the grounds and process to discipline or remove district attorneys, there is no violation of the state Constitution’s separation of powers clause,” Whitaker wrote.
D&B Staff

Popular Articles