A Holiday Refresher: 5 things to know
Getting caught up on Georgia politics after Thanksgiving break
Still trying to get back into the swing of things after the Thanksgiving holiday?
Not to worry! Let’s get caught up on what all has happened in Georgia politics while you and your family were indulging in your yearly turkey intake and cheering on your favorite football teams.
A usually quiet holiday week proved rather eventful, with new developments in the Fulton County election racketeering case and the legal battle over the prosecutor oversight panel that was backed by Gov. Brian Kemp.
We’re also getting ready for a busy week ahead: the late former First Lady Rosalynn Carter will be laid to rest this week. State lawmakers will return to Atlanta for a special session to redraw Georgia’s voting maps.
And a new federal court ruling could further limit the scope of the Voting Rights Act.
Here are 5 things to know as you get back into your workweek routine.
1. State supreme court blocks Kemp-backed prosecutor oversight panel
A new prosecutor oversight commission that was championed by Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican legislative leaders suffered a major setback last week, with Georgia’s top court blocking the panel from convening and conducting business.
Lawmakers passed a bill to create the panel last session as part of a nationwide effort to rein in left-leaning district attorneys and other local prosecutors who refuse to handle certain cases. The panel would have the power to investigate complaints filed against DAs, issue sanctions and even recommend their removal if they are found to be unfit for office.
Many critics of the new law warned that the panel could be used to undermine Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her criminal case against Donald Trump. Indeed, some Republican state senators filed a complaint with the panel against Willis shortly after the Trump indictment was announced.
But the state supreme court questioned their ability to enforce the panel’s rules, though they did not say that the law itself violated the state constitution.
The justices said that they did not feel obligated to approve the panel’s rules since they were under no legal directive to do so. “After consideration, we have grave doubts that adopting the standards and rules would be within our constitutional power,” they said.
The ruling prevents the panel from taking any action on the complaint against Willis, along with the various other complaints that had already been filed. Republican lawmakers are expected to revisit the issue when they return to session in January, but the law is still facing legal pushback from a bipartisan coalition of prosecutors.
2. Trump case updates
Speaking of the Trump case, there have been several new updates in the last week.
Harrison Floyd, one of the former President’s 14 remaining co-defendants, will not be awaiting trial from jail. Prosecutors had moved to revoke Floyd’s bond and arrest him for allegedly intimidating witnesses on social media. But the judge overseeing the case denied the push and instead revised Floyd’s bond, saying that “not every violation compels revocation.”
Prosecutors have also proposed a new trial date for Trump and his co-defendants: August 5, 2024. If accepted, it would put the GOP presidential frontrunner back in court just weeks after the Republican National Convention — and exactly three months before election day.
Court dates are already complicating Trump’s campaign schedule: he has March 2024 trial dates in another two of his criminal cases. He is also facing several lawsuits, including one in New York that could dissolve his business empire.
3. President Biden, VP Harris to attend Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses will travel to Atlanta this week to attend Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service, the White House says.
Carter, a former First Lady and former President Jimmy Carter’s wife of 77 years, died Sunday, November 19 at the family’s home in Plains, Georgia. She was 96.
Tuesday’s service at Emory University is limited to invited guests. The Carter Center has not yet confirmed if Mr. Carter, who is 99 and has been in hospice care since February, will travel to Atlanta for the service. It is one of many memorial services planned across the state to honor the Georgia native leading up to her funeral and burial, which is set for Wednesday.
The public will have several opportunities to pay their respects to Mrs. Carter: a wreath-laying will take place Monday morning at Georgia Southwestern State University, Mrs. Carter’s alma mater. She will lie in repose later that evening at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta.
The Carter Center says “family and friends” have been invited to her funeral service, which will be held Wednesday at the family’s church in Plains. Residents and the public are encouraged to line the streets as Mrs. Carter’s motorcade makes one final journey through her lifelong Southwest Georgia hometown.
She will be buried at the family’s home that afternoon.
4. Redistricting session set for this week as GOP appeals ruling
State lawmakers on Wednesday will return to the Gold Dome to redraw Georgia’s political maps as the Republican leaders continue to defend their current maps in court, adding more uncertainty to a legal battle that is now entering its third year.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones last month sided with civil rights groups who claimed that the 2021 congressional and state legislative maps were enacted to dilute the voting strength of Black Georgians in violation of the Voting Rights Act. He is giving lawmakers until December 8 to draw new maps with an increased number of majority-Black districts, or else he could take over the process himself.
Specifically, Jones would like to see a new majority-Black congressional district west of Atlanta and seven new majority-Black legislative districts — 5 in the Atlanta area and two in Macon.
Georgia Republicans, who could see their congressional and statehouse majorities narrow, are appealing Jones’ ruling. But it is not clear if a decision will be reached in time for the 2024 election, so it is quite possible that the state could switch back to the current maps in 2026 if the state wins on appeal.
New maps are expected to be released Monday.
5. Court ruling leaves statewide utility panel elections in place
A federal appeals court ruled late last week that statewide elections for Georgia’s utility panel can remain in place, overturning a lower court decision that said the current method of electing its members left Black voters at a disadvantage.
The Public Service Commission is a quietly powerful panel that helps determine how much Georgia families pay per month for household utilities. Though each commissioner hails from a different part of the state, all five of them are elected statewide — a system that plaintiffs claimed violated the Voting Rights Act, pointing to the limited success of African-American candidates in elections for statewide offices.
U.S. District Judge Steven Grimberg in August 2022 sided with plaintiffs and called for commissioners to be elected by district, a ruling that ultimately scrapped two statewide PSC races set for that year.
But an 11th circuit panel says Grimberg went too far, arguing that the federal government is not in a position to tell states how their electoral systems should work. “Georgia’s chosen form of government for the PSC is afforded protection by federalism and our precedents,” they said.
No appeals have been announced yet.
It is the latest court ruling that seeks to challenge the scope of the VRA since last summer’s shocking U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld one of the remaining provisions of the landmark law.