Georgia plies new tactic on DA sanctions
ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law Wednesday that lets a state commission begin operating with powers to discipline and remove prosecutors, potentially disrupting Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
“This legislation will help us ensure rogue and incompetent prosecutors are held accountable if they refuse to uphold the law,” Kemp said before signing the bill, flanked by Republican legislative leaders. “As we know all too well, crime has been on the rise across the country, and is especially prevalent in cities where prosecutors are giving criminals a free pass or failing to put them behind bars due to lack of professional conduct.”
Though Kemp signed legislation last year creating the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission, it was unable to begin operating after the state Supreme Court in November refused to approve rules governing its conduct. The justices said they had “grave doubts” about their ability to regulate the duties of district attorneys beyond the practice of law. Tuesday’s measure removes the requirement for Supreme Court approval.
The measure is likely to face renewed legal challenges. Four district attorneys dropped their previous lawsuit challenging the commission after the Supreme Court set it aside.
The law would require district attorneys and solicitors general, who prosecute lower level cases in some counties, to evaluate each case on its own, instead of declining to prosecute classes of offenses.
Opponents say that would mean prosecutors couldn’t use their discretion.
Republican House Speaker Jon Burns of Newington said the House’s efforts have not been directly aimed at Willis, who already is facing an effort in court to have her removed from the Trump prosecution over a romantic relationship she had with the special prosecutor she employed in that case.
Republicans cited other instances of alleged prosecutor misconduct, including occasions in the past when Democrats supported the idea of a prosecutor oversight panel after the killing of a Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, near Brunswick.
“For us in the House our focus is not on any one person, not on any one situation,” Burns told reporters after the law was signed. “It’s about asking the folks that are elected, just like me, to do their jobs and protect the citizens of this state.”