Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Georgia Supreme Court denies review of proposed rules to discipline prosecutors

"Fani Willis, What We Know and Why I Think It Matters
[...]The State Legislature. GA recently approved a law allowing for the removal of DAs by commission ..
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/05/georgia-brian-kemp-bill-remove-local-prosecutors .
[...]So far, other key Georgia Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp and House Speaker Jon Burns, have fended off efforts by far-right lawmakers to use legislative powers to punish Willis and block the case.
P - “In Georgia, we will not be engaging in political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment,” Kemp said in August about calls for a special session to impeach Willis and defund her office.
--
However, this might be the scandal that changes that:"

Sarah Ferguson | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US
November 23, 2023 01:58:50 pm

Lotsa links

The Georgia state Supreme Court denied review Wednesday of proposed rules to discipline state prosecutors in a blow to a state legislature effort to oversee the actions of district attorneys.

The proposed rules would have allowed the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Qualifications Commission to “discipline, remove, and cause involuntary retirement of appointed or elected district attorneys or solicitors-general” for misconduct or failure to carry out duties. The rules were supported by Republican legislators dissatisfied with the recent indictment of former President Donald Trump. Under these new rules, the Commission could have removed the prosecutors leading the case against Trump if they were able to show cause.

Pursuant to Ga. Code § 15-18-32, the creation of these new rules was only permissible “provided … that such standards and rules shall be effective only upon review and adoption by the Supreme Court.” However, after receiving the proposed rules, the Georgia Supreme Court denied review. The court argued that it was unclear whether it had the power to review such rules at all:

In short, we have grave doubts that we have the constitutional power to take any action on the draft standards and rules. But deciding the question of whether we actually have that power would require deciding difficult constitutional questions of first impression outside of the adversarial process. And “as a matter of constitutional avoidance, we must not address a constitutional question where it is unnecessary to do so.” Sons of Confederate Veterans, 315 Ga. at 65 (d) (i). Because we are under no legal directive to take action, the most prudent course for us is to decline to take action without conclusively deciding any constitutional question.

In a press release, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston, who with three other district attorneys previously sued to stop the commission’s creation, said:

Today’s order by the Georgia Supreme Court shines a bright light on the fundamental failings of Senate Bill 92. We are pleased the justices have taken action to stop this unconstitutional attack on the state’s prosecutors. While we celebrate this as a victory, we remain steadfast in our commitment to fight any future attempts to undermine the will of Georgia voters and the independence of the prosecutors who they choose to represent them.

Without the Supreme Court’s approval, the proposed rules fail and cannot be implemented.

https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/11/georgia-supreme-court-denies-review-of-proposed-rules-to-discipline-prosecutors/

I think that's the commission that once up and running could boot Willis off the case. I think the new rules of the commission can only be up and running "only upon review and adoption by the Supreme Court." I think now because of the state Supreme Court's decision not to review the rules the commission is not up and running. Not sure.

Leaving that i think, again not 100% sure, that this committee mentioned below is a new and different one other than the PASQC discussed above. Maybe this new, if it is, committee is in reply to this position from the previous post (and above) - "So far, other key Georgia Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp and House Speaker Jon Burns, have fended off efforts by far-right lawmakers to use legislative powers to punish Willis and block the case.:

Georgia Senate passes panel with subpoena power to investigate District Attorney Fani Willis

Associated Press//January 26, 2024//

ATLANTA — Georgia’s state Senate joined attempts to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Friday, voting 30-19 to create a special committee that Republican senators say is needed to determine whether the Democratic district attorney misspent state tax money in her prosecution of former President Donald Trump and others.

“This has to do with following state funds,” said Republican Sen Matt Brass of Newnan. “We want to know where is our money going.”

The committee, which doesn’t require approval by the state House or Gov. Brian Kemp, is tasked with making recommendations on state laws and spending based on its findings. But the committee can’t directly sanction Willis, and Democrats denounced it as a partisan attempt to try to play to Trump and his supporters.

“You’re talking about partisan politics. That’s all you’re talking about,” said Democratic Sen. David Lucas of Macon.

Trump on Thursday joined an effort by co-defendant Michael Roman to have Willis, special prosecutor Nathan Wade and their offices thrown off the case. Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Roman, filed a motion Jan. 8 accusing Willis of having an inappropriate romantic relationship with Wade that resulted in a conflict of interest.

Willis has yet to respond publicly to the allegations of a romantic relationship between her and Wade. But she vigorously defended Wade and his qualifications in a speech during a service honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at a historic Black church in Atlanta on Jan. 14. She suggested during that address that the questioning of Wade’s hiring was rooted in racism.

A filing in Wade’s divorce case includes credit card statements that show Wade — after he had been hired as special prosecutor — bought plane tickets in October 2022 for him and Willis to travel to Miami and bought tickets in April to San Francisco in their names. Republican State Sen. Brandon Beach of Alpharetta said that Willis’ employment of Wade is a “prosecution for personal profit scheme,” contending that she has stretched out the Trump inquiry to keep paying Wade and derive personal benefit.

“I believe this scheme — prosecution for personal profit — was a fraud against the court and it was a fraud against you as a Georgia taxpayer,” Beach said.

The new panel would be able to issue subpoenas and require people to testify under oath — powers that no other Georgia legislative committee routinely uses.

People can already be prosecuted for making false statements to Georgia lawmakers. Those are among the criminal charges that Rudy Giuliani and some others face for the false claims they made to Georgia lawmakers in late 2020. They claimed Georgia’s election was marred by widespread fraud and that Trump and not Democrat Joe Biden was the rightful winner of the state’s 16 electoral votes.

The action comes at the beginning of Georgia’s 2024 legislative session, with all 56 Senate and 180 House seats up for election later this year. With few of the 56 Senate districts expected to be competitive between Republicans and Democrats, the most serious opposition that many lawmakers could face would be in their party primary in June. Attacks on Willis by Republicans and a defense of her by Democrats could deter primary challenges on both sides in advance of the March deadline for candidates to file for election.

Most of the top supporters are Republican lawmakers who also publicly backed Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, including Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Willis was barred from prosecuting Jones by a judge after she hosted a fundraiser for a Democratic opponent. Jones on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for Trump after the former president won the New Hampshire primary.

“I’ve never shied away from it,” Jones told reporters. “I’m a Trump guy. I’ve been a Trump supporter since 2015.”

Kemp, though, has said he favors a revived prosecutor oversight board looking into whether Willis did anything wrong, instead of a legislative committee.

Democratic Sen. Josh McLaurin accused Republicans of going down a “dangerous path” by catering to Republicans who have shown themselves willing to threaten violence against Georgia lawmakers seen as insufficiently supportive of Trump.

“If you guys think you can handle it — if you think you can inflame that base, and feed them more, feed them misinformation, or let them persist in their misinformation about the results of elections — and not face the consequences someday, I think you’re mistaken,” McLaurin said.

Jeff Amy reports for The Associated Press.

https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/01/26/georgia-senate-passes-panel-with-subpoena-power-to-investigate-district-attorney-fani-willis/