Georgia district attorney calls new prosecutor oversight commission an ‘assault on democracy’
Georgia DAs ask judge to end commission
A group of Georgia district attorneys up against the clock to get a judge to toss out a law they argue is unconstitutional. State legislators passed Senate Bill 92 to create a commission to discipline or remove DAs. Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission is set to form in a little more than a week.
ATLANTA - Lawyers for four district attorneys in Georgia asked a judge Friday to strike down a law creating a commission to discipline and remove state prosecutors, arguing it violates the U.S. and Georgia constitutions.
The lawsuit is up against the clock, with the commission is set to form on Oct. 1.
"[Senate Bill] 92 is an assault on democracy," said DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit seeking to strike down the law. "It’s an assault on prosecutorial discretion."
DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston (FOX 5)
The attack on Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission comes after Republicans pushed through a law creating the panel earlier this year.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp pledged when he signed the law that it would curb "far-left prosecutors" who are "making our communities less safe."
Lawyers for the state argued the judge should not intervene because there are no grounds to.
"The injury, in fact, has to be two things: concrete and particularized and actual are eminent. And this is neither one," the lawyer told the judge.
But some Democrats think Republican lawmakers intend to use this new commission to play politics, targeting progressive DAs they think are soft on crime or trying to oust Fulton County DA Fani Willis after the indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (FOX 5)
"There are already legislators who have vowed, come Oct. 1, to file complaints against district attorneys here in Georgia for just doing their job," said DA Boston. "Including the DA who works in this very building."
One state lawmaker has already tried to impeach Willis, while another said he’d file a complaint against her for investigating Mr. Trump, which could lead to her removal under the new law.
"We are optimistic that Judge Whitaker will see the urgency to prevent this commission from interfering with each prosecutor’s ability to best represent the members of their community and to pursue safety in the way that their communities elected them to do so," said Joshua Rosenthal, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
(FOX 5)
The law mirrors similar efforts to remove prosecutors in states like Florida and Missouri.
The Fulton County Superior Court judge heard both sides’ arguments but did not issue a ruling.
A decision is expected sometime next week, before the Oct. 1 deadline.