DAs want judge to temporarily halt prosecutors oversight commission law

ATLANTA — A Fulton County judge will decide in the next week whether to temporarily halt a law that gives the state oversight over county prosecutors.

Some local district attorneys believe that the law is unconstitutional. The prosecutors are asking the judge to stop the law before a trial even begins.

Some DAs around Georgia worry that the commission will be highly politicized, so they want a temporary injunction halting it from investigating and disciplining prosecutors.

However, the state of Georgia insists the commission is legal and constitutional.

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston and other DAs around Georgia want a judge to grant an injunction stopping the newly created prosecuting attorneys oversight commission from investigating and disciplining them.

Before going into the courthouse, Boston told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot that she thinks the commission is unconstitutional.

“I believe that SB 92 is an assault on democracy. It’s an assault on prosecutor discretion,” Boston said.

TRENDING STORIES:

• District attorneys sue state to block oversight panel
• Lawmakers want another day to decide on new commission to oversee prosecutors
• These new laws will go into effect on July 1

Critics worry that the commission could use its power to punish DAs it doesn’t like or decisions it doesn’t like.

Some Republicans are already calling for the commission to investigate Fulton County DA Fani Willis for her decision to prosecute former President Trump and 18 others.

But inside the courtroom, the state argued that wasn’t the case at all, and that there was no need for an injunction to stop a commission that hasn’t even begun operating yet.

“There is no imminent harm because there’s nothing that the commission has done to show otherwise,” attorney Josh Belinfante said.

Judge Paige Reese Whitaker said she’ll make a decision on an injunction soon but on more than one occasion seemed to signal that Boston and the other prosecutors have a long way to go to convince her that’s needed.

“The actual establishment of the governing body, that’s not unconstitutional, is it? That not a separation of powers violation, is it?” Whitaker asked.

Whitaker said she’ll make her decision in the next week to ten days.

RELATED NEWS:

Lawmakers want another day to decide on new commission to oversee prosecutors There are two bills in the legislature that would create a prosecutors oversight commission.

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