ATLANTA — Members of the Georgia Legislature approved a bill Monday to revive a commission with the power to discipline and fire prosecutors, a move Democrats warned was aimed at interfering with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
The House voted 95-75 along party lines for House Bill 881, sending it to the Senate for further debate.
A similar bill came out of a Senate committee last week.
Although Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation last year creating the Commission on Prosecuting Attorney Qualifications, it was unable to begin operating after the state Supreme Court in November refused to approve rules governing its conduct.
The judges said they had “great doubts” about their ability to regulate district attorneys’ duties outside the practice of law.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appears during the hearing of defendant Harrison Floyd, a leader in the organization Black Voices for Trump, as part of the Georgia election indictment on November 21, 2023. AP/Dennis Byron
Monday’s move eliminates the need for Supreme Court approval.
“This commission will now be able to begin their real work, which is bringing accountability to bad prosecutors who abuse their positions,” said Rep. Joseph Gullett, a Dallas Republican who sponsored the measure.
Gullett and several other Republicans denied that the move was aimed directly at Willis, citing examples of prosecutorial misconduct, including occasions in the past when Democrats supported the idea of a prosecutorial oversight panel.
But Democratic opposition to the commission has hardened, saying Republicans are trying to override the will of Democratic voters.
“The commission will be able to proceed unilaterally and have the ability to interfere and undermine the ongoing investigation of Donald J. Trump,” said House Minority Whip Sam Park, a Lawrenceville Democrat. “You took action to protect former President Trump from ongoing criminal prosecution.”
Trump on Thursday joined co-defendant Michael Roman’s effort to have Willis, Wade and their office thrown out of the case. Reuters
Senators on Friday approved a special investigative committee that Republicans say will be used to investigate whether Willis has used state money to benefit himself by hiring attorney Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor.
Trump on Thursday joined co-defendant Michael Roman’s effort to have Willis, Wade and their office thrown out of the case.
Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for Roman, filed a motion on 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 alleged romantic relationship between him and Wade. But he vigorously defended Wade and his credentials during a Jan. 14 service honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at a Black church in Atlanta.
He suggested that Wade’s question was rooted in racism.
Filings in Wade’s divorce case include credit card statements showing Wade — after he was hired as a special prosecutor — bought plane tickets in October 2022 for him and Willis to go to Miami and bought tickets in April to San Francisco in their names.
Republicans claim Willis was improperly motivated by personal gain in hiring Wade.
Kemp said he would prefer a prosecutorial oversight panel rather than a Senate committee to investigate any allegations of wrongdoing by Willis, and on Monday asked the Senate to quickly approve the measure. But Democrats warned that eliminating the need for the Supreme Court to review the rules could leave the commission itself without oversight.
The move would also make it harder for courts to overturn the commission’s actions by imposing a high standard of review.
“The question we should all be asking is who is going to control this commission,” said Rep. Tanya Miller, an Atlanta Democrat. “To whom will they be accountable? Certainly not voters, because they are not elected. This should scare us all.”
The Georgia law is one of several attempts across the country by Republicans to control prosecutors they don’t like.
Republicans have scrutinized progressive prosecutors after some brought fewer drug possession cases and called for shorter prison sentences, arguing Democrats were appealing to criminals.
“If you talk to victims across the state of district attorneys who are not doing their job, you’ll realize why we can’t put this off any longer,” said Rep. Houston Gaines, an Athens Republican.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
