Georgia senators are backing a bill that would create a commission to discipline or remove prosecutors, which supporters say would provide a needed corrective for district attorneys who engage in misconduct.
The Senate voted 32-24 to pass Senate Bill 92 on Thursday, sending it to the House for more debate. The House is working on a similar bill, House Bill 231, which could be debated Monday.
Sen. Randy Robertson, the Cataula Republican sponsoring the bill, said it’s aimed at “somebody who says they can choose, not based on evidence, but on how they feel about their political leanings, who they can prosecute.”
Opponents, though, warn the commission could be used to void the will of voters or force prosecutors to pursue undesirable criminal charges.
Sen. Josh McLaurin, a Sandy Springs Democrat, said he has supported the concept at times, but fears the commission will be “twisted and turned into something else,” and that majority Republicans will “use a commission like this, potentially, to harass or put the fire under prosecutors of a certain party in certain urban areas that don’t align with what state government wants.”
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The bills have been engulfed in racial and partisan conflict, with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis telling the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that white Republican lawmakers are targeting Black and Hispanic Democratic prosecutors. Willis is investigating former President Donald Trump and prosecuting rapper Young Thug.
The effort was born from frustrations involving a white Republican prosecutor that roiled his home county. Dick Donovan, once district attorney in Paulding County, pleaded guilty to one count of unprofessional conduct and resigned in 2022 after he was indicted for bribery related to sexual harassment claims.
The torch has been taken up by Republicans who are worried about liberal-leaning prosecutors, especially some who have…
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