Kemp To Sign Bill That’ll Make It Easier To Punish Local DAs He Has Political Beef With

GEORGIA, USA - NOVEMBER 7: Governor Brian Kemp speaks at a Get Out The Vote rally at the Cobb County International Airport in Kennesaw, Georgia on November 7th, 2022. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) will sign a bill on Friday creating a state commission that will have the authority to investigate, sanction or remove local prosecutors – all part of a broader Republican-led push to punish district attorneys who don’t do their bidding.

Senate Bill 92 will create the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission, which would grant the task force oversight over local prosecutors.

Reasons listed for why the commission would be able to remove a prosecuting attorney include “willful or persistent failure” to carry out their duties, “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice which brings the office into disrepute,” or enacting a “stated policy, written or otherwise, which demonstrates that the district attorney or solicitor-general categorically refuses to prosecute any offense or offenses of which he or she is required by law to prosecute.”

If the last offense seemed targeted, that’s because it could be: Republican governors across the country have sought to retaliate against prosecutors who’ve stated that they wouldn’t pursue certain low-level offenses or enforce new laws passed by far-right state legislatures. In Florida, for example, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) fired a prosecutor in part for stating that he wouldn’t prosecute people seeking abortions.

Georgia Democrats have argued that the bill aims to endanger Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s job as she conducts a probe into whether former president Donald Trump attempted to overturn his 2020 defeat in the state. Her grand jury’s investigation reached completion back in January, and Willis said last week that she will announce charges in the case this summer. 

“Whether intended or not, the majority of the world” will see the bill as a reaction to her investigation, Rep. Tanya Miller (D-Atlanta) told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution back in March.

State Republicans have largely avoided bringing up Willis, and focused their attention on other liberal district attorneys, like Athens DA Deborah Gonzalez, whom they claim aren’t adequately doing their jobs.

“The whole point of the bill is to restore public safety in places where you have rogue district attorneys who aren’t doing their job,” Rep. Houston Gaines (R-Athens) said of Gonzalez. 

Gonzalez was sued in March for allegedly being “unable and unwilling to perform her statutory duties”; the complaint includes a letter signed by four local judges who accuse her of, among other things, not coordinating with law enforcement.

But the Athens district attorney argues that Republicans are just trying to retaliate for her progressive approach. 

On March 13, she responded to the lawsuit on Facebook: “This attack on my office is part of a broader, politically-motivated campaign to undermine prosecutors who have been elected by their communities to pursue smart justice that moves away from the failed ‘tough on crime’ strategies of the past.”

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Fascism is an infectious, virulent disease.

  2. Now do a commission for legislators who bring disrepute to their office or push legislation that is contrary to their state or federal constitutions.

  3. Avatar for tsp tsp says:

    “The whole point of the bill is to restore public safety in places where you have rogue district attorneys who aren’t doing their job,” Rep. Houston Gaines (R-Athens) said of Gonzalez.

    Aren’t DAs elected? I know they are in Kansas. Anywhere else? If they are not doing their job, that’s why we have elections.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

65 more replies

Participants

Avatar for dr_coyote Avatar for blandsten Avatar for eldonlazar Avatar for eduardoinohio Avatar for dudeman Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for lastroth Avatar for gr Avatar for ifeveroheverawiztherewas Avatar for musgrove Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for darrtown Avatar for aru90015 Avatar for jinnj Avatar for texacali Avatar for susanintheoc Avatar for jmacaz Avatar for rhs1963 Avatar for stellermeller Avatar for sydneyp22 Avatar for tindalos Avatar for txlawyer Avatar for VeganMilitia Avatar for old_guru

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: