Georgia Republicans are reviving their efforts to fashion a legislative shiv that could be used to target prosecutors — such as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — who run afoul of their conservative demands.
Last year, multiple Georgia Republicans openly discussed using a controversial law to remove Willis after a grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump and his associates for pressuring officials to overturn Georgia’s election results. The law, known as SB 92, created a prosecutorial review commission that would have the power to remove prosecutors deemed unfit for their positions. Members of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Qualifications Commission are to be appointed by Georgia’s governor, lieutenant governor, House speaker and the Senate Committee on Assignments (positions which are all currently held by Republicans). The initial version of the law said the panel would follow rules to be written by the state Supreme Court. But that court issued a ruling in November saying rule-making for the commission doesn’t fall under its jurisdiction.
So this week, Georgia Republicans introduced a new version of the law, which gives the commission power to create its own “standards of conduct and rules for the commission’s governance.” The pre-filed bill says the commission’s rules will be written with “assistance” from the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, an organization established to help Georgia prosecutors with legal research.
In lieu of clearer language, it sounds like the new version of SB 92 will let Georgia’s highly controversial prosecutorial review board police its own behavior, making it even less democratic than the previous version.
Last year, a bipartisan group of prosecutors led by DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston filed a lawsuit looking to thwart the commission from conducting its work, claiming the commission would be permitted to usurp power from prosecutors over their offices and the power of voters to elect district attorneys of their choice.
Those plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit after the Georgia Supreme Court effectively paused the commission from doing its work. But there was a line in that filing that suggests another legal fight may be on the horizon.
It says that “plaintiffs do not waive their rights to reinstitute litigation should the [commission] take any subsequent action without Legislative authorization or if the General Assembly amends SB 92.”
