ATLANTA (AP) — A judge expressed skepticism Friday at demands to freeze a new Georgia law creating a commission to discipline and remove state prosecutors.
Some Republicans want the new commission to discipline or remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for winning indictments of former President Donald Trump and 18 others.
That’s in part a way to evade demands from some Republicans that lawmakers call themselves into special session to attack Willis. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has rejected both a special session and the notion that Willis has done anything that merits sanctions from the new commission, although he supported the law, saying when he signed it that it would curb “far-left prosecutors” who are “making our communities less safe.”
The case argued Friday predates the indictments Willis won in August, with four district attorneys attacking the law as an unconstitutional limitation of their discretion over which prosecutions to pursue and what they can say about their cases. Willis is not one of the plaintiffs in the suit, although she opposed the law.
Josh Rosenthal of the Public Rights Project, a group representing the district attorneys, said prosecutors are already changing their behavior because they’re worried about getting investigated. He argued Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker should enjoin the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualification Commission from starting operations.
“As long as there’s a possibility of investigation, plaintiffs are forced to limit their actions,” Rosenthal told the judge.
A lawyer for the state argued Georgia lawmakers noted the state constitution expressly says lawmakers can pass laws to discipline or remove district attorneys, and said lawmakers can also define a prosecutor’s duties.
“Here, they’re acting well within their constitutional authority to proceed,” lawyer Josh Belinfante said, saying Whitaker should reject the district attorneys’ claim that the law is an…
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