Georgia DAs Sue Over New State Oversight of Elected Prosecutors

A group of Georgia district attorneys are filing a lawsuit challenging a recently enacted law empowering the state to remove elected prosecutors for their discretionary decisions, they announced Wednesday.

The legislation, signed into law on May 5 by Gov. Brian Kemp (R), creates an eight-member Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission, which can remove a prosecutor who makes a charging decision based on “a stated policy,” that the district attorney “categorically refuses to prosecute” an offense that the law requires them to prosecute.

The law restricts the prosecutors’ freedom of speech in violation of the state and federal constitutions, and the separation of powers guaranteed by the state constitution through interference with prosecutorial discretion, district attorneys Sherry Boston, Jared Williams, Jonathan Adams, and Flynn Broady Jr. say in a complaint filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County.

The law also violates the non-delegation clause of the Georgia constitution by assigning the legislative power of the general assembly to the commission, the complaint alleges.

The complaint seeks a declaration that the law is “void and unenforceable,” and a permanent injunction, barring the commission from “investigating or pursuing disciplinary action.”

The law is the latest escalation of tension between local district attorneys and GOP-led state legislatures nationwide, where Republican officials aim to rein in progressive-leaning prosecutors who say they’ll opt out of enforcing crimes such as personal possession of cannabis, low-level shoplifting, or abortion restrictions.

The law provides that any district attorney or solicitor general removed by the commission will be disqualified from being appointed or elected to a similar office anywhere in Georgia for 10 years.

The commission members will be appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, and Georgia’s legislative leaders. Five members will comprise an investigative panel, and three will form a hearing panel responsible for issuing disciplinary orders.

The commission will begin accepting complaints Oct. 1.

Public Rights Project represents the DAs.

The case is Boston v. Georgia, Ga. Super. Ct., docket number unavailable, complaint filed 8/2/23.